Metal Gear Solid: Apocalypse
by BlackPitbull
Summary: Elijah is no normal man being born and raised to kill. plagued with a dark past and an even darker future as he faces an epidemic known as the OUTBREAK. He along with a platoon Old Snake appointed him to lead, fight back a cannibalistic population and machines run on a program named Babylon spearheaded by an unknown organization. will humanity survive? Self-made characters and B&B.
1. Chapter I

Warning rated M for mature will contains raw violence, harsh language, harsh humor, alcohol, drug use, and suggested sexual them.

You have been warned…

I **DO NOT** own the Metal Gear Solid franchise at all if I did I wouldn't be making stories about it I would be making more games. I do however own the characters that I write about, Known as Elijah, and Erin to name a few understand. for those just starting this story, the actual apocalypse DOES NOT happen until the **8th chapter**. I wanted my story to be original and ever last movie or story starts air dropped into the middle of the whole situation then explain why such a thing happened.

I thank you for reading and enjoy

**ELIJAH**

Elijah arose in a pool of cold sweat today, like every day. The painful dreams of old memories haunted his sleep. He looked at the alarm clock on the side table to the left of his bed with groggy eyes; he could have sworn it sounded like gun fire. It was 7:40 am… he did a double take looking at the clock once more and quickly turned the clock alarm off and got dressed. He only had on a pair of metal dog tags, and some night pants on. He switched to a pair of faded jeans and found a dark blue short sleeved shirt and put those on too. He buttoned the shirt up to the second highest button. Then grabbed his wallet and flipped it open to a picture of himself with his parents, little brother, and baby sister.

"Kind of a rough start huh guys" he said to the picture as if it could talk back.

He flipped it closed, then put on a tan brown pair of thick soled work boots, and snatched a key chain with four keys on it, off of the same side table his clock was on by the bed. He grabbed a motorcycle helmet, his galaxy S 4, a cool pair of skullcandy SYLR over-ear headphones, sky blue in color, and a small book bag that was barely full of school supplies that it looked almost flat. He quickly moved over to the other side of the single floor flat garage. He saw his old UFC grade punching bag, rugged and duct tape patched up the major tears in its fabric, hanging at the center of the room.

He saw his metal pull up bar, that was bolted to the ceiling in the west side of the flat. A bench press was pushed against the wall, width wise with at least eighty pounds of weight on each end of the bar. It had a metal structure but a somewhat plush back rest last time he used it. Next to the bench was a small weight rack holding weight plates and dumbbells of ten, thirty, forty, and fifty pounds in mass sitting on it. He had a king sized bed with blue covers and pillows near the bathrooms door.

A tall lamp stood next to the bed on the other side on its own and a desk, with its own lamp and laptop, sat upon its surface. He also had a small walk in closet in the northwest corner of the flat garage. A simple table that sat four easily and had the chairs to prove it, was a little ways away from the bathroom and bed. There was small kitchen with a double sink, cabinets and pantry stock piled with food and cooking tools. It also had a stove oven, fridge. All the windows were covered with the blinds so it was pretty dark, but he could still see it.

The large home had a half circle sectional couch that faced an average flat screen bolted to the east wall with a coffee table between the two objects, along with a Gatorade and snack filed mini bar. An Xbox 360 along with an assortment of games such as call of duty and halo, with two controllers and a remote sat on a black end table underneath the TV. Finally an actual garage space in the southeast corner of the home that has a couple tool shelves, and a motorcycle.

A cherry red CBR600RR sport bike with a fender eliminator, it also had an extra helmet much like the one he held in his hands, it covered the whole head and had a shaded visor to cover the eyes from the sun. The bathroom and the kitchen had a tiled floor, while the rest of the place had carpeting except the garage area. There was also a ladder to the roof top, to get an amazing view of the valley nearby his home. He had opened the garage door with a button and as the door came up, sunshine flowed in as he was putting on the helmet.

A mysterious person grabbed him from behind and pulled him into a choke hold, he tried to struggle and escape the stranger's grasp but all that did was make it hurt even more. Thin bandana strips fluttered in the corner of his eye, he had seen those strips before but couldn't remember where. Then an injection gun was pressed harshly under his jaw near the ear, the needle pushed and penetrated the skin and injected strange fluid into his vains. He also felt tiny lumps under the skin as he moved his hand to the area of the needle. Somehow he was growing drowsy and then his assailant finally spoke.

"You're surprisingly calm…GHOST, you seem to know this won't kill you" a man with a rough voice said.

"You know my nickname, but what did you do to me?" be barely got the words out.

"I know many things, but I'll keep in touch" the stranger answered as he lost consciousness

**OLD SNAKE**

Solid Snake, or Snake for short just finished inducting the new recruit to his operations Elijah Carter, codename Ghost. He slipped off the helmet that was on the young man's head and lightly placed him on the concrete floor, then placed the helmet on his chest. Snake then pushed the garage door button to close the doors, and as they closed he slipped under it before it clanged shut. He ran a good distance away from the home and toward a tall unknown building on the way he had become completely invisible blending into scenery of the urban area like a chameleon.

He slowed down to light walk inside of the building and entered an elevator, completely alone he decided he didn't to be invisible anymore and became visible once more. The elevator had reached the top of the building and went to the roof letting Snake off; he strode over to the ledge looking over Ghost's home from at least fifty meters away and watched the building.

A ringing echoed in his head and he lifted a finger to his ear and heard a voice.

"Did you inject him with the Nano-Machines?" The voice said in the back of his mind.

"Yes Otacon I did, now I'll see how he will react to a call" snake said to the voice named Otacon.

"Fine just tell him a basis though and then later in the day we will move in to make contact understood?" Otacon said to him solemnly.

"Alright" Snake answered then ended the call.

After a few moments Snake spoke again almost to no one specifically.

"Are you watching Ghost with me, Raiden" Snake said turning toward the elevator door to see a mechanical robot ninja standing hunched over showing a large bushido sword on his back.

A black visor covered the cyborgs eyes, and forehead. He held himself in place by holding onto the edges of the door.

"Nothing gets past you, Snake old friend" the cyborg named Raiden retorted.

"No, if something even remotely like you got past me I'd be dead already" Snake said almost annoyed of the notion.

"I suppose your right on that then" Raiden Said standing up straight on his heels, and as he did the visor came up showing his almost surreal blue eyes to the world.

Raiden jumped down landing next to Snake. They both turned to watch the home of the recruit.

**ELIJAH**

Elijah woke up with his helmet on his chest. He quickly jumped up to the balls of his feet knocking the helmet to the floor. He rushed over to his bed and pull a semi-automatic weapon called a MP7 from between the mattress's and loaded the weapon then gave his home a quick search. Finding nothing he tried the roof and point in every direction around himself, he thought he saw two figure on a building but when he turned back he saw nothing. He heard a ringing echo throughout his head and he tried to rub his hand near his ear to stop it but stopped moving when he heard a voice.

"It seems the Nano-Machines work properly if you can hear my voice?" the same rough voice said.

"What the hell!?" Elijah exclaimed out loud.

"You have one month to find a partner if you want to survive…" The voice said to him.

"To survive what!?" Elijah said to the voice in his head, pointing the gun at the ground.

"The outbreak…" the voice said before he heard a click.

"But who do I take?" Elijah said to himself, taking his hand away from his ear.

He stood there for a moment then started down the ladder and put the gun back where it was. He then picked up his helmet and hit the garage door, and He checked his surrounding before he got onto his motorcycle, he started it and road out onto the road as the door closed automatically. In the gleam of his visor he saw the figures yet again but didn't show it to get a better glance. One carried a large Japanese sword on his back was all he could make out at that distance.

**OLD SNAKE**

"Looks like Ghost is an observant one" Raiden said.

"What do you expect from a savage that lived in Africa at the heart of the war" Snake retorted

Raiden was silent at that, thinking it over in his mind.

"I'll leave it alone for now" Raiden finally said, as his visor came down once.

"I'll leave after I contact Bear…" Snake said his body looking tense.

Raiden rushed over to the other side of the roof and jumped down to the ground and headed west. Snake stood there for a moment watching the clouds thinking for a moment himself. He then lifted a finger to his ear.

"Bear…" Snake said to himself.

"Yeah what is it Boss?" a voice said to him.

"Since you're at Ghost's school watch him" Snake ordered.

"Yes sir" Bear voice responded.

Snake removed his finger away from his ear and thought to himself. 'There is something not right about Ghost… his skin… it felt like it was burning?' he was lost in his thoughts thinking on it. He decided to dismiss the thought and leave, turning invisible by shifting his body a little he free ran and jumped across various roof heading west like Raiden.

**ELIJAH**

Elijah rode for a while on the highway then onto regular streets and roads until, he reached the lot of a huge high school campus. He stopped and parked the machine and strode over to main office, after getting his schedule he walked through various hallways and outside passageways. His footsteps echoed in the deserted areas of the school as he walked he finally saw his class Mr. Woods mathematics.

yes I recently changed the name if people haven't noticed it is not james anymore.


	2. Chapter II

I don't own the Metal Gear Solid franchise or any of the original characters.

I do own Elijah and Kazumi owns Erin who is introduced in a written and typed chapter by Kazumi Silverwolf Hatake

Enjoy

**ERIN**

Erin was grumbling incoherent words to herself as she exited the public library. The librarian in charge accused of her loitering and thus kicked her out. Erin wanted to give the librarian a few words of her own, but chose to keep her mouth shut. She wasn't one to add more conflict to any type of situation however, if necessary, she would be the one to finish it. Erin was a teenage girl, around sixteen or seventeen. She has light brown skin (around a caramel complexion), long dark brown hair that extends a few inches pass her shoulders and amber (gold) colored eyes. She was donning a black short sleeve t-shirt, a pair of dark navy blue jeans and black sneakers.

Before she was escorted out, Erin was able to hide the book she was reading before the librarian came up to her. But as soon as she was out the door and was a good distance away from the building, she retrieved the book and started reading once more. She had found it hiding amongst a random stack within the nonfictional/mystery section. The information the book contained was about a Special Forces group known as FOXHOUND. To find such a book in a stack of nonfictional books caused her to wonder; why wasn't this book with the other fictional novels? The book contained nothing but fabricated stories. Besides, if the information was in fact true, of all places, it wouldn't be inside a public library. Instead, it should be inside a secret location within a military base or government building or wherever they hid top secret documents and files. But as she continued to read, she felt as if what she was reading was real. And that somehow, someway, it all actually happened.

The book stated that the leader, known as Big Boss, was responsible for stopping numerous nuclear threats, plus what was left of the Soviet Union between 1950 and 2010. But what was amazing was that he did so with little to almost no help. It was unheard of. How could one person be able to accomplish so much, especially alone? Many questions continued to run through her mind. Another being: why was FOXHOUND created in the first place? Although the book contained quite a bit of information about the group and its leader, there were still unanswered questions. Not only that but there wasn't a single picture of Big Boss or its members, former or current, if they were any still around. However, there were pictures of strange looking war machines called Metal Gear. One was called Metal Gear Ray; the other was Metal Gear Rex.

The book itself caught Erin's interest almost immediately. And honestly, no one would expect someone like Erin to show any type of interest in war, especially since she was a street orphan. She mainly spent most of her time out in the streets then inside a library anyway. After placing the book within her knapsack, she stuffed her hands into her pockets and continued walking, heading to her only class of the day. In the state of Georgia, it was 87 degrees, surprisingly warm. But since it was nearing Spring, and Georgia weather was a bit bipolar from time to time, it wasn't too much of a shock. Once she arrived at the large brick building, she knew she had a maximum of ten minutes to get to class before the tardy bell rung. But when she glanced at a nearby clock, which was hanging high on one of the walls, she found that she only had five minutes left before she was marked as being late. Increasing her pace to a fast walk, Erin hastily made her way straight to the classroom.

Upon entering Mr. Woods's classroom for mathematics, she found that not only was Mr. Woods himself wasn't within the room but neither were any of her classmates. She glanced up at the clock to find that it was nearly time for class to start. Taking her eyes off the clock, she began to scan the room. She found the desks were set up in squares of nine, creating a cross between the four groups of nine. Not wanting to bring any kind of attention to herself, Erin decided to sit within a desk that was in the back, far left hand corner, of the room. Once seated, she retrieved the book from her knapsack and continued reading where she left off. After about three minutes, she spotted something that piqued her interest even more. The following section was a story about a child soldier in Africa that was known as: The Ghost of Africa or simply Ghost to the locals of the land. It stated that the boy was one of thousands (of other young boys) within Africa that was forced to kill their own families and join the revolution.

The one known as Ghost, never recovered from killing his own family, which led him to escaping the revolution and fight for himself and his own survival. Since his escape, many American Soldiers have died by his hand. Upon finding the bodies, military officials confirmed seeing the bodies within a graceful position. The only thing that would be missing was their I.D. dog tags. A few weeks later, military bases would receive a small package sitting in the middle of their headquarters. The package would be waiting out in the open. These packages contained the missing I.D. dog tags. One small envelope would hold fifty to sixty tags.

But that wasn't the strangest part. What was strange was that no one knew exactly how the package got there. It was soon concluded that the one responsible for the act was the very person responsible for killing the soldiers, the Ghost. In fact, this was one of the very reasons why the young boy was nicknamed, Ghost. No one ever saw him when these strange events occurred. Many of the soldiers that have witnessed the strange package appearing out of nowhere have stated: "At least whoever is responsible has the decency to return the tags" after finding them.

There was also another story; however, this one didn't have much detail like the first. This story was also about a child soldier, but this one occurred around the Cold War. And just like the young boy that was nicknamed Ghost, this boy had his own nicknames as well. Names such as the White Devil and Jack the Ripper were used to name him. He lived through the conditions of the frozen battle ground while his superiors fed him food containing traces of gunpowder. But it wasn't any ordinary gunpowder. It was mixed with toluene. This made it easier to put and keep young children under their control. But if that wasn't shocking enough, it was what Erin read next. Jack the Ripper commented that people had ordered him and his team around and would ask them all one simple question: "How many will you kill?" He said that if you didn't answer, they'll turn the gun on you and pull the trigger.

RIIIIINNNNNGGGGG

The sound of the bell instantly causes Erin to jump out of her thoughts. She was so into the book that she didn't even notice Mr. Woods had entered the room. He was dressed in a grey sweater vest with a white shirt and grey tie (that seems to be bothering him constantly), along with black dress pants and shoes. He had ginger colored hair and beard with dark green eyes and a kind look on his face. Students had also started to enter the classroom, immediately heading straight to their desks. Since the school was diverse evenly, not one race made up the student body. Before long, nearly every desk was occupied, with the except for a few around where Erin sat. And with the students in their seats, Mr. Woods began to teach the lesson for the day.

After explaining the lesson, Mr. Woods placed a few problems on the board for the students to solve either by themselves or with a partner. Of course, some attempted to answer the problems while others just ignored them and began talking to their friends. Erin on the other hand attempted the problems and finished them with ease. And once they were out of the way, she returned back to her book. About five minutes after returning to her reading, Erin found that FOXHOUND was searching for new recruits. Jack the Ripper and Ghost were prime candidates. Ghost was said to be somewhere in American, but Jack had basically dropped off the face of the earth.

As she read silently to herself, she heard Mr. Woods calling out names in the background. There was no doubt he carrying roll call, a very late one to be exact. So she kept her attention in her book while she listened out for her name. Once her name was call, she raised her hand in the air and stated she was there, all without taking her eyes off the page she was on. As she grew more interested, she couldn't help but wonder if her teacher has ever read this book since he did read during his free time, especially around his lunch period.

After finishing up the page she was on, she slipped a piece of ripped paper into the book to mark her page and closed the book. She then turned it over to look at the cover. The book itself was jet black with red letters spelling out FOXHOUND. Underneath the title, she spotted the name of the author: Emmerick. She couldn't tell if it was a first or last name. When she first found the book, she didn't even bother to look at the title. She slowly stands up from her seat and strode around the desks as she made her way to Mr. Woods' desk. As she moved, several students attempted to trip her as she walked pass them, but luckily not a single one was able to cause her to fall. Before long, she made it to his desk. Seeing that his attention was caught by his own book, she successfully caught his interest by waving her hand between his face and his book.

"Yes? What is it that you need, Ms. Grant?" Mr. Woods asked with cheerfulness in his voice as he clasped his hands together after putting his book down.

"Do you know anything about FOXHOUND?" She asked him bluntly as she held up her book, showing him the jet black cover that bared the lone word she just spoke in crimson. He stared at the book for a moment, his soft and kind expression turning hard as if he was in deep concentration.

"NO…. now return to your seat, Ms. Grant." He says; the cheeriness in his voice had completely vanished. As Erin stood there, he was now looking at her with a hard and intimidating look.

The look she was receiving caused Erin to take a step back. Without another word, she turned around and proceeded back to her desk. As she did, she caught on to the low snickers and giggles her classmates were giving off. Moments after she took her seat, a loud booming knock was heard just outside of the classroom. This causes all the students to become quiet in an instant and turn their attention onto the door, which was the only way to enter and exit the classroom. Well, unless you were an idiot who would jump out of the window that was on the second floor.

After the third knock was heard, Mr. Woods finally got up from his desk and opened the woodened door. There, standing in the doorway, stood a rough looking young man. He wore thick sole working boots, faded blue jeans and a cobalt blue button-down shirt, which was buttoned up to the second highest button. He was wearing a motorcycle helmet but the visor was raised to reveal his face. He had short shaven black hair, thin lips, a small nose, dark brown eyes, thick eyebrows and long eyelashes. The whole time, he had a hard expression on his face, which hidden his large dimples. He was around average height and looked to be around sixteen, maybe seventeen years old and had a rich caramel skin tone. He stood there in the middle of the doorway with his arms crossed over his chest.

"And who may you be…?" Mr. Woods asked him.

"My name is Elijah Carter and I'm a new student assigned to this class." Elijah answered as he removed his helmet. "Are you Mr. Woods?" He asked.

Mr. Woods nodded his head, "Ah yes, Mr. Carter. Come in." He stated as he gestured Elijah to enter the room. The cheerfulness had quickly returned. nodded Elijah and did so. He soon stood before the class. "Class… this is our new student, Elijah Carter. And he'll be joining us this school year." Mr. Woods stated. "Elijah, you can take the step next to…"

Before Mr. Woods could finish, a student suddenly stands up from his seat. It was Gerald. He had a dark skin tone, and like many others, sagged his pants nearly to his thighs. Along with his sagging pants, he also wore a sleeveless white shirt and a snapback hat that bared the letter "X" in an old English writing. Gerald stood up to Elijah and sized him up. Elijah just stood there and eyes him like a lion, watching and waiting for him to make the wrong move or attempt to do so.

"Is there a problem, Gerald?" Mr. Woods asked the young teenage male.

"Oh, it's nothing... I just wanted to get a better look at Elijah." Gerald answered the ginger haired teacher. Gerald took another step closer to Elijah, which causes James to lean back. Gerald looked Elijah hard in the eye and makes a few loud sniffling noises. Gerald's nose soon scrunches up, as if he smelled something that reeked off of Elijah's face. "Your face smells like corn chips and ass…" Gerald stated.

That comment caused the class to burst out into a fit of laughter but there were a few that didn't make a sound, Erin being one of them. She remained silent. Erin was also among the few who saw the expression on Elijah's face deepen into that of pure anger. Elijah's eyes showed burning raged within them as he clenched his hands tightly into fists. He looked ready to attack anything in his path. Erin didn't need to guess what would happen next, but what did happen surprised her. Elijah started to calm down. His fists unclenched and his eyes were somehow shaded. Seeing this, the class finally settled down, wondering "what's changed". Elijah just looked at Gerald and said something inaudible to him.

"Speak up, dipshit!" Gerald yelled as he turned to his left, moving his ear closer to Elijah. This time, Elijah spoke a little more clearly.

"I said… I didn't know you could smell with a broken nose." Elijah said loudly into Gerald's ear.

"I don't have a broken nose, idiot!" Gerald yelled into Elijah's face, leaving spit on his cheek.

While the confrontation between Elijah and Gerald continued, Mr. Woods had walked back over to his desk and retuned back to his reading, ignoring the two. Whenever fights occurred within the classroom, Mr. Woods tends to ignore them and only stop them if things got a little too physical or out of hand. He allowed verbal fights so the students could go ahead and get it out of their systems. Gerald stood toe-to-toe with Elijah, getting into his face. Once again, Elijah began to clench his hands tightly into fists.

"What're you gonna do?" Gerald asked in a taunting tone, attempting to get that angered expression back onto James' face.

While Gerald continued to taunt Elijah, he didn't see Elijah's next move. In fact, it was all a blur. Elijah's right hand reached forward and latched onto the back of Gerald's head, catching him completely off guard. Elijah then took Gerald's head and slams it down onto Mr. Woods' oak desk. The unseen attack caused Mr. Woods to jump out of his chair. The action also caused him to drop his book in the process. All that was heard was the deafening sound of bone colliding against hard wood. One of the students, who sat closer up front, said that they saw blood over the surface while another yelled that the wood had a few splits through it. Elijah kept a tight grip of Gerald's head, pushing it harder into the splintered wood. Elijah soon lowered his head towards the desk and beside Gerald's.

"So… You say you don't have a broken nose, huh?" Elijah asked him. "Well, you do now, bitch!" He sneered. "Now you know not to fuck with me! Do you understand me?" James adds in a dark tone, proving to Gerald that he chose the wrong person to mess with. Gerald mumbled something but it came out inaudible. "Speak up, BOY! They can't hear you if you're speaking like that…" Elijah told him while he pulled his head up a little ways before slamming it back down. Gerald just groaned in pain.

"Carter…! That's enough. He's got the message." Mr. Woods says, seeming very concerned for Gerald's well-being.

"Heh, you want me to stop? But I'm just getting started." Elijah replied back as he pulled Gerald up by the back of his collar so he was standing up straight, or as straight as he could get at the moment.

A stream of blood flowed out of Gerald's nose at a fast pace, staining the stark white shirt he was wearing. The snapback hat he was wearing had fallen off his head and landed on the floor. A small pool of blood was slowing forming right beside the piece of clothing. While Erin sat at her desk, she heard the other students whispering to each other about Gerald's condition. There was no doubt that Gerald's nose was broken and so were a few of his teeth by the looks of his slacked jaw. Elijah soon pushed Gerald up against the wall with his left hand, getting it covered with the boys crimson red blood. With his back facing Gerald, Elijah looked towards the class. They saw that his shirt had a few drops of blood but it was nowhere near as covered as Gerald's. A pair of thick metal dog tags clanked together at the slightest bit of movement Elijah made. When Erin noticed the tags, for some reason, they looked at bit familiar to her. While she sat there, she felt the air growing warmer and warmer as if a fire was being created within the classroom itself.

"Ha, that bastard's not hard! Anybody could've beaten Gerald's ass!" Someone yelled from within the crowd of student speculators. "Man, we were waiting for someone to do something to that asshole anyway."

"Yeah, you're right, Reggie!" another student stated, agreeing with him. "Go ahead and stick him!"

Erin just ignored the outbursts, but as she looked around, she spotted several students with their smart phones out, videotaping what was happening. There was probably more but she only spotted a few of them from where she was sitting.

Suddenly, another large dark skinned teenager stood up. He was wearing the high school football jersey, which was black and red with the number 23 on both sides. She knew that was the boy who yelled the first time, the one named Reggie. He also wore some denim tan shorts and black sneakers. While he stood there, he had a sort of happy expression that was easy to see through his somewhat bearded face. Reggie had a short afro Mohawk and a big frame, all muscle. And now that Erin thought about it, Reggie had recently returned from doing time in state prison.

"This isn't going to take long Michael." Reggie assured his buddy. "I can take this guy down. No problem."

"What makes you…" Elijah started but was quickly cut off by Reggie coming at him with a straight forward attack. Reggie tried to punch Elijah in the face with his left hand, but it was quickly dodged.

Releasing his hold of Gerald, Elijah shifted and turned his body to the side in order to counter with a sideways elbow jab. The move hit Reggie in the side of his face, forcing the large teen to take a few surprising steps back. Elijah soon stepped into a parrying position, looking more like a boxer at the beginning of a match. Reggie attempted to swing another punch towards Elijah but just like before, Elijah shifted his head to the side to dodge. James took the opportunity to punch, striking Reggie in the nose, drawing blood. As the fight continued, Erin felt compelled to tell Elijah to stop, but she didn't want to draw any attention to herself. Elijah soon caught a hold of Reggie and started bombarding him with strikes. While he was dazed, Elijah takes a hold of Reggie's arm and slings it over his shoulder.

"Hey, HEY! What are you doing?" Mr. Woods asked in the upmost tone of urgency. "Don't you…"

Before he could finish that sentence, it was too late and Elijah had already set things into motion. Elijah had also caught a handful of Reggie's shirt and kicked him hard in his legs to knock him off balance. James used his momentum to throw Reggie over his head. Reggie was sent airborne like a ragdoll. When the students saw Elijah was about to throw Reggie, they quickly stood from their seats and got out the impact zone. As soon as Reggie collided into the desks, a loud booming crash rung through the room and possibly down the hallway as well. When things settled, Erin saw Michael stand up from his seat. Just like Reggie, he too wore a football jersey. However, he wore the number 45 and had plain jeans on with white and red sneakers. And unlike Reggie, Michael had a recent shaved look.

As Michael stood there, he pulled out a small pocket knife and flipped the blade out. With his weapon drawn and ready, Michael rushed towards Elijah. There was no doubt that Michael had plans of seriously injuring Elijah with the lethal weapon. Elijah didn't see him coming until it was too late. When he turned around, Michael lifted his knife to stab him. With his momentum, Michael was able to push Elijah back against the wall. Once pinned, Michael attacked. Fortunately Michael missed Elijah's chest and neck but he was able to stab him in his shoulder. Many of the students exclaimed that Michael was really trying to kill Elijah. Meanwhile, Elijah was able to punch Michael in the face, causing him to release his hold and step back. Elijah used the opportunity to snatch the blade out of his shoulder. However, the move caused him to rip his shirt sleeve, which was now hanging by mere threads. Because of this, the large tattoo on his upper arm was revealed.

As soon as he snapped out of his daze, Michael went after Elijah. Elijah was able to push him back again, keeping himself from being cornered. Wielding the knife now, which was now stained with his own blood, he jabs the blade straight into the wall and snaps the blade off the handle. After recovering from Elijah's counter attack, Michael went after him once more. Elijah saw his pursuit and quickly elbows him upwardly in his jaw. In a blink of an eye, Elijah grabs Michael's waist and hauls him up by his shirt and into the ceiling. When Michael came down, pieces of the ceiling fell down below, some falling on top of him as well as a few of the desks. With one hand, Elijah grabs Michael by his collar and hauls him up to his full height. Seeing that things were about get to even worse…

"STOP IT RIGHT NOW!" Erin yelled from her seat. With that, everything went silent. Everyone turned and directed their attention towards her. Elijah stopped glaring daggers at Michael and turned to look at the teenage girl.

"Okay, I will…" She heard Elijah reply back. Moments later, Elijah released his hold of Michael and allows him to drop to the ground. He soon turns around and proceeds to walk away.

"HEY… finish what you started, bastard!" Michael yelled in a harsh tone while he stumbled to stand back up.

Elijah just ignored him, allowing his bellowing to fall upon deaf ears, and continued to walk away. While he made his way over to Erin, the other students just sat there with shocked looks on their faces. While Michael leaned against the wall, he spots something at his feet and picks it up. It was none other than his broken pocketknife. Well, all that was left of it. Michael stood there, narrowing his eyes at the item. In an instant, he snaps his head up and rushes towards Elijah like a savage animal. Elijah continued to pay him no attention and continued to walk forward.

"Fine! Then I'll finish this myself since you won't!" Michael yelled as he closed the gap between him and Elijah.

As soon as Michael was within arm's reach, Michael attempted to stab Elijah in the back of the head with the broken pocketknife. But before he could do so, Elijah shifted his weight to his right, avoiding the attack. As Michael missed, Elijah threw his elbow back, clipping Michael straight in the stomach. Michael was stopped dead in his tracks. The unseen attack caused him to drop the broken weapon as well. The boy soon doubled over while he groaned in pain. After delivering the agonizing blow, Elijah turned around to face Michael. He quickly grabs him by his head and brings it down to collide with his knee. All that could be heard was the sickening sound of bone connecting with bone. Michael soon fell backwards, hitting the ground with a thud. Once he was out of it, Elijah turned his head and set his sights onto Erin. He soon turns around and proceeds to head towards her.

The students were still quiet. They were speechless actually. Some were looking at Elijah while others looked towards Erin. Several desks were vacant and over turned, but Elijah just simply walked around them. Before long, Elijah reached her. He just looked down at her with his dark brown eyes. Since she was obviously shorter than Elijah, Erin glanced up, meeting his gaze. When she saw his eyes, to her, they looked unreal for some reason.

After a moment, Elijah raised his hand and reached out for her. Before he touched her, Erin flinched slightly but soon relaxed when she noticed his touch was soft and light, the complete opposite of what she was expecting it to be. And after watching what happened to Gerald, Reggie and Michael, she couldn't help but feel a bit nervous and cautious. His hand felt a bit warm against her cheek but she brushed it off. A second later, Elijah pulled away and sat down in the empty desk that was beside her. As he did so, he just sat there staring at his hands while he flexed them. It looked like he was calming himself down. While Erin kept her eyes on him, she couldn't help but notice scars that were across his arms. She couldn't help but to wonder how he could've gotten them.

Erin stood there for a solid minute before regaining movement. She slowly turned around and took her seat, ignoring the stares from the other students. So much for not bring any attention to herself. That plan obviously failed.

I hope you have enjoyed this chapter although this was completely in the point of view of Erin neither of them are the main character the whole will be made in multiple points of views THANK YOU for reading see you next time. and yes the name of James has been changed in the story to Elijah


	3. Chapter III

**I hope you guys enjoy this one, I am very sorry that It came a little late but better than nothing **

**I do NOT own the metal gear franchise or any of the original characters of the game at all…**

**Enjoy**

**ELIJAH**

As Elijah stood before, to whom he sees as an angelic teenage girl, he noticed her golden eyes staring back at him with surreal clarity. And although they've just met and didn't know a thing about one another, he could tell that she was… different. Snapping himself out of his short-lived trance, he raised his hand and reached out to touch her. But before he could, she flinched. Of course Elijah expected this kind of reaction from her, so he couldn't blame her for doing so. But the moment he softly touched her cheek, he felt her relax. He assumed that she wasn't expecting this, especially not after witnessing what he had done to three of her classmates' just mere minutes ago.

Her skin felt soft against his own, the complete opposite to how his own felt, all thanks to the scars he received from his past. Elijah soon removed his hand and stepped forward, taking the empty seat that was right next to the she stood behind. He sat there in silence as he stared down at his hands. His thoughts were clouded by how disgusted he was at what they could and can do to a person. He knew that someone like him shouldn't be around a girl like the one he was sitting next to… but he was. He just sat there with his attention focused on his arms, which were also riddled with just as many scars as his hands. He could easily remember that most of his injuries were caused by a variety of different blades while the rest came from clawed animals he encountered. But evidently, his arms and hands weren't the only places riddled with scars. His entire body was.

With his eyes closed for a moment, he felt something slowly streaming down his arm. He snapped his eyes open and immediately glanced at his shoulder. He could clearly see blood slowly exiting the wound one of the boys had inflicted with their switchblade. He couldn't exactly remember which one had done it, but at that moment, that was the least of his worries.

"Shit…! This was my favorite shirt!" Elijah mumbled to himself.

Seeing his blood dripping to the floor, he quickly wiped away the single trail with his thumb. After cleaning his arm, he licked his thumb so he didn't mistakenly smear it anywhere else. He then took his finger and placed it inside the wound, checking to see just how deep the cut was. After a minute or so of examining the injury, Elijah concluded that the cut was at least two inches deep. There was a burning pain lingering inside and around the wound, but he ignored it. Knowing that he had to find a way to stop the bleeding, and with no spare bandage wrap lying around, he rips off his ruined shirt sleeve and tears it so that it was one long piece of cloth. He ripped the other sleeve off to make the cloth longer, and to help make his shirt look even. He then takes both ripped pieces of fabric, ties them together and wraps it around the wound. Once he was sure that the makeshift bandage was covering the wound completely, he ties the two ends together, securing the fabric firmly in place.

"There. That ought to hold until I get home." He murmured to himself as he knots the two ends together for a second time.

"What are you doing?" Elijah heard a soft, feminine voice ask.

He jerked his head up sharply and turned into the direction he heard the voice. There he saw a girl dressed in a light blue dress. She had a dark complexion with her long black hair styled in braids. As she stood before Elijah, she looked at him with a confused expression on her face. Elijah also noticed her staring at his wounded shoulder and the burn mark that looked like a tattoo.

"You shouldn't be worrying about me. Those three over there… maybe, but not me." He told her in a surprisingly calm and pleasant tone.

"Why should I worry about them?" She asked him in a surprised tone as she folded her arms across her chest. "To be honest, I never liked either one of those jerks." She added as she took a nervous step closer to his desk.

As she explained herself, Elijah looked passed the young girl standing before him. There he saw a group of girls burning a hole in her head. He glanced back and forth between them, which went unnoticed by them all. He just shrugged to himself and acted as if he didn't notice them in the first place as he looked back up towards the girl before him.

"I was just asking. I thought you would be." Elijah said, answering the girl's question.

With her question answered, silence surrounded them both. Seeing that she had nothing else to say, or didn't know what else to say, Elijah dug into his bag and pulled out a pair of headphones. Once he pulled his phone out of his pocket, he plugged in his headphones. He slid the electronic devices around his neck and started to search for a song to listen to. Just as he was about to put them over his ears, the girl spoke once more.

"What's with that tattoo on your arm?" She asked innocently with curiosity in her eyes.

Her sudden question caused him to freeze for a second. He glanced up at the very girl who asked him the question and then glanced over at the group of girls, who were still looking their way. This time around, they caught James looking at them. Acknowledging the curious look Elijah was sending them, they all swiftly turned away in embarrassment. Once they were looking away, Elijah directed his attention back onto the girl standing before him.

"Do you yourself want to know?" he asked and directed his eyes back onto the group of girls. "Or… do they want to know?" he finished as he looked back towards her.

"Umm…" the girl started, but her words got caught in her throat as a look of guilt appeared on her face.

"Hey. Relax." Elijah told her. "If they want to know so badly, tell them to come over and asked me themselves. Okay?" He added as he lifted his headphones, placing them over his ears. Once they were in place, he began playing his music.

With that said, the girl nodded and turned around, heading back to the cluster of girls. Before the girl could return back to her seat, her group of friends began to bombard her with several questions at once. Even a few of the guys sitting close by were trying to seek answers to their own questions. Elijah simply looked away, quickly becoming uninterested in the group's little discussion altogether. He turned towards his right and glanced at the girl that was sitting next to him. He found her busy reading some kind of book. But he couldn't help but notice that she was having trouble keeping her focus. If it wasn't for his keen eye, he would have only assumed that she was annoyed by the stares she was still receiving from her fellow classmates.

He was just about to ask her what was wrong when he got a strange feeling as if someone was approaching him. He glanced back out the corner of his eye to see a small band of girls heading his way. Releasing a soft, unnoticeable sigh, he turned towards them as he removed his headphones. Music blared from the speakers as he placed them around his neck. By the time he picked up his phone to turn the volume down, the girls were standing beside him.

"What do you need?" Elijah asked with a small smile gracing his lips, which surprises a few of the girls.

"Well… you see. We wanted to know, what's with that tattoo on your arm?" One of the girls asked as she pointed at his arm. She had a fair complexion with long dirty blonde hair and grayish green eyes. She looked like she was the leader of the group.

"Okay first... this isn't a tattoo. It's a burn mark from a cattle prod…" Elijah wasn't able to finish his explanation and was cut off when one of the girls interrupted.

"Aren't those used to mark cows or bulls as someone's property or something?" She asked with a shocked expression present on her face. This girl had tanned skin, hazel brown eyes and long curly black hair with light brown highlights.

"Yeah, that's what they're used for. But… not in Africa." Elijah stated as he crossed his arms. "Is there anything else you girls wanted to know?" he asked as he patiently waited for one of them to speak up.

Seconds after Elijah asked that question, the girls began to bombard him with question after question after question. Mostly, if not all, pertained to his likes and dislikes. It soon grew silent when they couldn't come up with anything else to ask him. Seeing that there was nothing else to be asked about, the group of girls left Elijah to his music. He didn't mind answering their questions, even though they were a bit repetitive. After replacing his headphones back over his ears, he turned back into his seat. For no reason whatsoever, he glanced out the corner of his eye and found his neighbor, Erin, staring silently at him. He couldn't help but wonder just how long she's been sitting there looking at him. Was she interested in the girls asking him questions or was there something else? He removed his headphones once more and directed his attention on her.

"What's your name?" he asked the girl as she continued to stare intently at him. She remained silent for a moment until she found her voice to speak up.

"My name is Erin. Erin Grant." She answered in a plain tone as she leaned closer towards him. As she did, she kept her eyes locked firmly onto his.

"Uh… What are you…?" Before he could finish his sentence, Erin cut him off by kissing him on the lips. Elijah's vision suddenly grew foggy and soon turned pitch black. He could have sworn he heard a few gasps in the background, but he was caught off guard so fast that he couldn't pay attention long enough to determine that he heard such or not.

**Flashback….**

For a moment, all he knew was pitch black darkness and didn't know where he was or what was happening. Seconds later, his sight finally returned to him but he didn't find himself inside the classroom. Instead, he found himself inside a shack, which was weird. But at the moment, the tern "weird" was an understatement. As he glanced around the room, he saw all the objects his father and mother had left him before the… "Incident" This was the place he called home while he was still in Africa. Looking out a window from where he was sitting on the hard ground, he spotted a familiar tree that he remembered his father stating belonged to him. His thoughts were suddenly interrupted when he heard the sound of rocks crunching under the weight of boots. He quickly turned around to find Erin approaching him. As she did, she was looking at him with a loving and concerned expression. Before he knew it, she was standing before him.

"Why must you try to do this every night?" she asked him, a frown plastered on her face.

He shrugged his shoulders, "I just feel like doing it until I fall asleep myself." Elijah answered honestly as he stood up, returning to his full five feet eight inch height. Elijah was a bit surprised that he had an answer to her question without knowing what she was talking about. The words he spoke just came out on their own.

Erin just shook her head softly, disappointed to hear his answer. When she looked back at him, she lifted her hands and placed them gently on his face while she looked deeply into his eyes. "Do me a favor… please stop?" She asked him with a stern yet soft look. "That bullet wound needs to heal. It won't if you're constantly moving."

"Sorry, I can't make that promise." Elijah told her as he glanced down at the survival knife he was holding expertly in his left hand.

Erin let out a quiet sigh, "Fine…" she said in a defeated tone, slightly pouting at his comment. She leaned forward and kissed him once more as she closed her eyes. Eventually, Elijah followed suit and closed his eyes as well.

**End of Flashback…**

Elijah found himself blinking several times and before long he found himself back into reality, back inside the classroom. He looked forward to see Erin, who was still kissing him. She had a shocked look in her eyes before it disappeared. After a moment, she finally pulled away and was once again staring at him. And just like the flashback, Elijah found her frowning at him. As the two continued to stare at each other, students were whispering their heads off. Some were shocked at what had just occurred, especially the group of girls that approached Elijah. However, the whispers from the students just went unacknowledged to both Elijah and Erin. After a brief period of silence, Erin leaned towards Elijah. Not as close as before but just close enough for him to hear what she was whispering to him.

"Did you remember something as well?" she asked.

"I…think so…?" He whispered back, hesitating and wondering how she knew he had a flashback in the first place.

Erin glanced around, noticing the looks she and James were receiving from their classmates, "We'll talk about it later." She told him, making sure no one else heard what she said. "Okay?"

"Uh…sure." Elijah whispered back.

After receiving an answer and giving Elijah a quick nod, Erin leaned back and returned to her seat. She picked up her book and returned to her reading, acting as if nothing happened at all. Elijah just continued to stare at Erin in disbelief at what had occurred between them. He wanted to know what the hell just happened but decided to leave it alone until he and Erin had some privacy so they could talk. He thought that maybe, just maybe, she could explain everything that was so unclear to him.

"Umm… I think you drop this."

Hearing this new voice, Elijah turned around to face the individual. As he does so, he heard the door to the classroom close shut as one of the school nurses entered. The girl before him held his black helmet in her small hands. He took the item and thanked her. She returned the smile and left to return to her seat. Meanwhile, the nurse was talking to Mr. Woods as she tried to get to the bottom of what happened to the classroom and to the three unconscious teenage males. Mr. Woods pointed to each of the three boys, explaining each one's confrontation with Elijah, the final boy he pointed to. Hearing this information shocked the nurse. She quickly pulled out a small walkie-talkie and spoke into the device as she quietly left the room.

About five minutes or so, another individual entered the room. It wasn't teacher, another nurse or any of the faculty members. Instead it was a student. The young man ignored Mr. Woods as he demanded him to explain why he was in the classroom. He simply walked over to James and sat in the empty seat next to him. The boy donned a pair of dark blue baggy jeans, a red polo shirt and a pair of brown, thick sole work boots. He had long blonde hair that stopped just an inch pass his ears. He had a small patched flipped over, covering the left side of his face, including his left green eye. Although it was well covered, James could see that his face had a few scars. But they weren't normal scars; they looked like they were inflicted by some kind of knife. Ignoring the new guy, James checked to make sure his temporary wrap was still in place and firmly secured.

"Hi." The new boy greeted as he held up a peace sign, sending Elijah a toothy smile.

"Hey…" Elijah greeted back, sending him a small smile of his own.

"The names Ethan, bro." Ethan stated as he held out his hand for a handshake. Elijah noticed that the greeting wasn't formal or business like.

"Elijah." He said, clasping hands with Ethan, accepting his greeting.

Once the salutations were said and done, the bell rung. Everyone, with the exception of Elijah, Ethan and Erin, stood from their seats and began to exit the classroom. A few girls strode over and asked Elijah if he wanted to join them for lunch but James politely declined their offer as he stood from his seat. He soon directed his attention onto Erin, who was gathering up her books and stuffing them into her knapsack. Once she finished, she found Elijah looking at her.

"Follow me…" She tells him as she stood up from her seat.

"See you later, bro." Ethan said as he stood up. As he left, he gave him a peace sign and walked out of the classroom along with the other students. As he walked pass the three boys who were being treated by a few nurses, he couldn't help but wonder what happened to them.

Once the doorway to the classroom cleared, Erin and Elijah left and proceeded towards the cafeteria. After receiving their lunches, which they both deciding on a fruit salad, they walked over to an empty table in the corner of the large room. Since the cafeteria was loud with voices overlapping each other, they were sure that no one would hear their conversation. But just to be sure, they talked at a volume were only they could hear each other.

Erin looked at Elijah with a sharp look in her eye, "So tell me… What did you see?" She asked him in a serious tone.

"Well… For some reason, I saw… you." Elijah told her, not really remembering much from the flashback. "What did you see?" he asked.

"I saw you there as well." she answered. "Not only that but we were in some kind of shack… I think. I'm not sure what it was to be honest." She added. "But what I don't get is why we had that flashback. That's what I want to know."

"As do I." Elijah agreed. "Uh, by the way. Why did you kiss me?"

Erin glanced his way for a second before closing her eyes, "I honestly have no clue." She answered as she slowly reopened her eyes and look forward. "All I know is that something came over me. Then the next thing I knew, we were kissing. Next I found myself in some kind of flashback. And once I returned back to reality, I'm still kissing you. I don't know what to make out of it."

Elijah listened to her voice carefully and found that she was telling him the truth, "So it seems that you're just as lost as I am." Elijah pointed out. Erin just nodded her head. "But you do seem to remember more than I could."

"Well… usually when something strange happens, I tend to try my best to remember as much as I can." She explains. "Oh, and for the record. That kiss was just as embarrassing and awkward for me as it was for you."

"Yeah, I kind of doubt that." Elijah replied. "New kid on the block gets kissed by his classmate he just met. It sounds like I was embarrassed more than you were."

Erin just shook her head, "Anyway… the fact of the matter is that it seems that we somehow know each other even though we both know that we've never met before." She stated. "Sounds kind of strange, doesn't it?" She inquired as she looked his way.

"Yeah, it does seem strange." Elijah agreed as he looked towards his food. "Too strange if you ask me." Erin nodded her head in agreement. Just as he was about to start eating, a small group of guys were walking by their table, talking to one another, and caught Elijah's attention.

"Hey man, did you see that nice ass bike Trent was on?" one of the two boys asked.

"You're talking about that red one?" the second one asked. "Hell yeah, and it's a sweet ass ride. But I seriously doubt it belongs to him."

"Why do you think…?" the third started to say but was cut off by Elijah.

"Did the bike have a helmet hanging off the back light?" Elijah asked, interrupting the boys and causing them to stop in their tracks.

"What!?" the first one asked.

"DID IT or DID IT NOT have a helmet hanging off the back light? Tell me!" Elijah demanded as he jumped to his feet, becoming impatient. His sudden outburst stole a few tables worth of students' attentions.

"Umm, yeah. I think so." The second guy answered. "Why do you ask?" he asked cautiously.

"Because… that bike is MINE!" Elijah growled as he stormed out of the cafeteria, heading straight towards the student parking lot.

**ERIN**

Erin stared at Elijah as he stormed out of the cafeteria to go after whoever was playing around his bike. And by the sound of his tone, she knew he was beyond pissed. And knowing that there was a possibly that things were bound to get out of hand, she knew she had to follow him. For all she knew, Elijah could probably do more damage to the guy messing with his bike than what he did to Gerald, Reggie and Michael. Just as she stood from her seat to follow him, she noticed that he left his helmet and backpack behind. She released a quiet sigh and snatched the bag and helmet into her grasp while she threw her knapsack over her right shoulder. Once she had everything, she quickly left to follow the enraged teen. As she walked out the door, she noticed a crowd of kids beginning to follow behind her. This caused Erin to scuff inwardly. There was no doubt they were looking for a good fight. And for the ones who were in her class, they were hoping for a repeat of what happened.

Once outside, she quickly rushed towards the student parking lot. There she found that a crowd of students had already formed a circle in the large, partially empty part of the lot. She wasted no time pushing against the crowd, using the helmet to help her move a few out of her way. After fighting her way through the crowd, she finally made it up front to find James approaching a large boy who was sitting on the seat of a cherry red motorcycle. Erin assumed that this was the boy those guys were talking about. This guy was the one named Trent.

Trent looked like your typical sixteen to seventeen year old. He stood at the average height for someone his age but was slightly bigger. He had a peachy complexion, short light russet brown hair with a bit of fringe hanging over his forehead, and light bluish green eyes. He was wearing a black t-shirt with a red collar and short sleeves, a pair of dark blue jeans and a pair of black and red Jordan's. Honestly, he just looked like a guy who wanted attention and would do anything to get it.

Erin rolled her eyes with intent, "I know where this is going." She mumbled to herself.

"Hey, asshole!" Elijah growled in anger, grabbing Trent's attention away from the small group he was talking to. "Get the fuck off my bike, right… now…!"

Trent scoffed at Elijah's comment, "I don't know what you're talking about, man. This is my bike, and you're just hatin'." He told him. He soon turned back around to his buddies, ignoring Elijah, who was still approaching him.

Before Trent could get a word out, Elijah reached forward and caught him by the collar of his shirt. He pulled Trent towards him, snatching him off the machine in the process, and onto the hard asphalt below. Everyone who saw this started cheering and hollering, excited that a fight was about to break out. Erin just remained silent. Elijah stood there as he watched Trent staggering to return back to his feet. Once Trent regained his balance, he suddenly pulls out a Glock 18 from behind his back and aimed the barrel right at Elijah. Seeing the gun in his hands startled everyone in the crowd and caused them all to duck low to the ground with their hands over their heads. Even though he was faced with a dangerous and deadly situation, Elijah remained completely calm. He kept his eyes on Trent, who kept the barrel of his gun pointed at him.

"No one puts their hands on me!" Trent told Elijah with an angered look plastered on his face. "And you're going to learn firsthand why no one fucks with me."

"Trent! What the hell man!" One of the guys in the crowd yelled. "Are you crazy? Put that damn thing away before someone gets hurt… or worse."

"Oh, someone's going to get hurt alright." Trent told his buddy. "This son of a bitch decided to fuck with the wrong guy. So I'm going to teach him what…." Trent was stopped in mid-sentence when he felt something smack against his hand. The action caused him to fire off a shot. The loud rang of the gunshot caused a few of the girls nearby to scream at the top of their lungs, filling the air with screams of fear and panic.

Thanks for reading the next chapter will be coming in later in perhaps a few more days to come.

-Black Pitbull


	4. Chapter IV

**Enjoy this chapter it may be awhile before I get anything in here for another long while**

**BEAR**

"Damn it, we have even more problems to deal with." Bear growled to Snake over the Codex. He was currently outside, hiding a few feet away from the parking lot, where he could easily see the large crowd that had gathered not too long ago.

"That red motorcycle must belong to Ghost." Snake stated in a calm tone from the other end, letting out a slight cough afterwards. "And if that's so, then he must be in the center of that confrontation."

Bear couldn't help but to release a frustrated sigh, "First it was that battle royal in the classroom, then Christian suddenly appears, and now, we have to worry about the damn authorities being dispatched our way. And they could be arriving within ten to fifteen minutes." He said in an agitated tone, obviously caused by the situation that was happening before him. Plus the clothing he was currently wearing wasn't helping either. He made a mental note to himself that his skin and polyester didn't agree with one another.

"Hey, I stayed in character, thank you very much." Christian yelled as he looked towards Bear, who was right beside him. "It's not hard to pretend to be some kid named Ethan." He adds.

"Just shut up Christian!" Bear snapped back. "We have enough problems at the moment, and I don't need to hear your smartass mouth right now!"

"Well sorry for trying to lighten the mood, "Mr. Woods"." Christian said mockingly as a sly smirk appeared on his half-covered face. "Maybe you should send me to the Principal's office."

"Christian, if you don't shut the-" Bear was cut off by the sound of a gunshot, which causes both men to throw their conversation out the window and snap into soldier mode in an instant.

Bear quickly ducked down low to the ground, pulling out a MP412 revolver, pointing the barrel straight towards the general area he heard the gunshot come from. The sound of students screaming in fear and panic continued throughout the parking lot. Bear glanced out the corner of his eye to find Christian grasping a small survival knife in one hand with a USP .45 in the other while he hid behind a dark blue car that was nearby.

"Bear! What's going on? What's happening!?" Snake asked into the still active Codex in a demanding tone.

"Someone just pulled out a gun and fired off a shot." Bear growled into the Codex as he continued to stare forward.

"We need that Erin girl, Bear." Snake reminded the undercover soldier. "If the information we gathered is indeed true, and she does know something, then it's obvious that we need her alive!"

"I'm well aware of that, Sir." Bear replied back as he began to survey the area. "I'll be sure to get to her before the authorities can." He submitted to his superior before ending the connection.

Before the situation could escalate any farther, a police cruiser suddenly pulls up and parks not too far from the crowd. Within seconds, two officers step out of the vehicle, drawing their weapons, as they continue to scream out "Freeze" or "Get on the ground" towards the individuals in the crowd. As Bear continued to look around, he spots a trio of girls hiding behind a car, watching the scene with keen eyes. He could easily tell that the girls came from different nationalities. Ignoring the three girls, he set his sights onto the one he was ordered to retrieve, Erin Grant.

"Christian, you can put that gun away." Bear ordered the younger male, who only grunted as an acknowledgement. "Alright, I'm going in."

Placing his gun back into his holster, Bear slowly began making his way towards Erin. Many of the students were attempting to get out of the area before either one of the officers could get them. They probably though he was an undercover officer helping out. Before long, he was right behind Erin, whose attention was on the officers that were subduing both Elijah and some other kid, placing them both in handcuffs. It took only two officers to take down the first kid, however, it took four officers to keep Elijah down and two more to place handcuffs on him.

While she was distracted, Bear quickly makes his move. In one swift motion, he wrapped his left arm around Erin's waist and quickly places his right hand over her mouth before she could scream for help and alert the officers. Erin immediately started struggling against Bear's hold, but her struggle was proven useless against the trained soldier as he continued to drag her away from the slowly diminishing crowd. Once he was able to get Erin out of sight, he removes his left arm from around her waist and placed it on her neck. He starts to add pressure, slowly cutting off her airway. Erin responded by fighting against Bear's hold even more, but like before, it was useless. Once Erin lost consciousness, Bear quickly release his hold from around her neck.

"Who the hell are you!?" An angered voice exclaimed from behind Bear, causing the man to draw his gun once more. He turned around swiftly, aiming his gun at the individual. There, he found the trio of girls he spotted earlier. Forgetting about his persona at the moment, he just stared at the angry looking Asian girl.

"It's none of your concern." Bear answered the girl calmly as he grabbed the unconscious Erin, holding her close.

"Step away, right now." Christian yelled, startling the girls. When they all glanced back, they found him holding his two weapons, ready to attack at any given moment.

Lifting Erin onto his shoulders, Bear slowly began to back away slowly, but continued to keep his gun aimed at the three girls. As he does so, a large Dodge truck pulls up beside him. Placing his gun back into its holster, Bear quickly opened the back door and placed Erin inside. After closing the door, he opens the front passenger door and jumps in.

"Leave 'em, Christian. They're no threat to us." Bear told the younger male through the connection link of the Codex while the truck drove off. Exiting the parking lot, the truck takes a sharp right, heading east.

**CHRISTIAN (ETHAN)**

"Sorry, but my friend needs her…" Christian told the girls as he put away his guns.

"He needs her? For what?" one of the girls asked.

"Because, she knows something we don't…" he answered as he glanced back. He found all three girls staring at him.

"You mean she knows something about Ghost?" Asked the girl who looked to be a South American native.

Christian didn't say a word. Taking his silence as an answer, the three girls just turned around and headed back over to the silver car they were hiding behind previously. She opened the door to the driver's seat and jump in while the other two got in as well. Just before the car pulled off, the Scandinavian blonde, who jumped into the backseat, sent Christian a wink as she waved goodbye.

"Well… isn't she friendly." Christian mumbled to himself as a small smiled appeared. Christian turned around and heads forward, heading towards the thinning crowd of people. As he walked passed them, he snatched up a backpack that was lying on the ground, and kept walking. After searching for a minute, he eventually pulls out a small set of keys from the small side pocket. "Heh, as if Ghost would go anywhere without his keys." He added as he throws the bag over his shoulder.

Christian chuckled to himself as he took a hold of the helmet that was hanging off the taillight of the vehicle. Hopping onto the machine and placing the key into the ignition, he quickly started the engine, receiving a deafening roar as a response. The roar of the engine immediately gained the attention of officers that were still standing around. Then, without hesitation, Christian slammed on the throttle, causing the motorcycle to lurch forward. Only a few seconds after hitting the road, Christian had already reached the vehicle's maximum speed.

"Damn! This bitch can move!" Christian yelled over the roar of the motorcycle. After taking a few quick and necessary turns, he pulled out onto the main highway.

**ELIJAH (GHOST)**

While he sat inside one of the patrol cars in handcuffs, Elijah watched as his "borrowed" red motorcycle zoomed down the road. Elijah couldn't help but to release a somewhat frustrated sigh. From what he could tell, he thought Ethan was a good guy, someone he could trust. But still…

"First that bastard, Trent, and now Ethan?" Elijah asked himself. "If Ethan needed to my bike, he could have asked... before taking it."

As Elijah got lost in his thoughts, he was brought out of them when the door opened. Elijah turned his head to find one of the officers standing there. A female officer with dark skin and dark brown hair pulled into a ponytail stood there with one hand secured on her handgun while it was still inside its holster. Elijah's eyes soon landed on the gold colored nametag pinned on her uniform shirt with the name, Mitchell, engraved in black.

"Is your name, Elijah Carter?" Officer Mitchell asked in a calm, intimidated, tone.

"Yeah, I'm Elijah Carter." Elijah answered in an unusually calm tone of his own.

"Do you know how many charges are up against you?" She asked him in a slightly annoyed tone.

"There's only one that I know of…" Elijah started to say.

"Well, you have three people charging you for assault. And the one we detained along with you, he's charging you for not only drawing a weapon on him but aiming and threatening to shoot him." Officer Mitchell explained. "But before we can charge you, we want to hear your side of the story." It was obvious that Officer Mitchell couldn't believe that one person could cause so much damage until she saw the "victims" herself.

"First of all, they're all lying. The three that are blaming me for assaulting them, assaulted me. So what I did was use self-defense before they could attempt to mess me up." Elijah explained, annoyance was clearly heard within his voice. "And second, that gun isn't mine, its Trent's. He, along with a guy named Michael, were the ones pulling weapons out on me. Trent threatened to shoot me minutes ago, while Michael actually stabbed me with his switchblade an hour earlier."

"Hmm, it appears that the only way to find out the answer is by asking those who've witness the events." Officer Mitchell concluded. "However, we'll still need to take you down to the station."

Elijah just remained silent as Officer Mitchell closed the door. She walked over and climbed into the driver's seat while her partner, a young Caucasian woman with long dirty blonde hair, which was also pulled into a ponytail, got into the passenger's seat. Elijah turned his hand and just stared out of the window as the cruiser pulled off.

One hour later….

Thanks to the eye witnesses for telling the truth about both incidents, all charges were dropped against Elijah and he was soon released out of police custody. After leaving the building, and declining a ride home from the officers, Elijah silently roamed the downtown area of Albany. As he walked along the sidewalk, his attention was suddenly directed onto a nearby pet store. In the display window, he could see a couple of puppies roughhousing with each other. Deciding to get a closer look, Elijah entered the store. Once inside, he saw several animals ranging from reptilian animals such as turtles and snakes to birds, dogs, cats, rabbits, ect…

"Hello. Are you looking for a specific animal?" Asked a male attendant, who was standing by the wall with large fish tanks that were filled with different species of aquatic life.

"Um, no. I'm just looking around." Elijah told him as he kept moving.

With a nod, the attendant returned back to his job of feeding the animals. Elijah continued to move until he came to an area that housed dogs of different breeds. Back up front, the display window only contained pure breeds, which he knew were quite expensive. So he decided to see what other breeds they had to offer. He walked over to a small play pin that held several small puppies. He spotted one that looked like an Alaskan Husky, but since it was in the back, he assumed that it wasn't a pure breed and was mixed with another dog. Sadly, he couldn't tell what. He soon walked over to another topless pin that contained puppies with light brown, black, or a mixture of the two.

"Are you finding everything okay?" he heard someone asked. He glanced up to see a female attendant slowly approaching him.

"Can you tell me what kind of breed puppies are inside this pin?" He asked, pointing towards the puppies.

"These are all Pit-bull Terrier and Rottweiler mixes." She answered. "Sadly they're not selling well since the Pit-bull has an aggressive reputation." She added in a saddened tone.

"Hmm, I see." He replied as he reached down to pet one of them. Almost immediately, nearly every single puppy ran to his hand and started licking him. "Well, it seems that they like me." he mumbled quietly.

"Well, they all love to be held and petted. Plus they love licking people's hands." The attendant said with a small smile on her face, which slowly disappears. "Well, all of them do, except that one." She added as she pointed at the said puppy that was literally staring at Elijah's hand.

"Hmm, alright, let's see just how bad you are." Elijah said to the puppy as he looked at him.

As Elijah's hand grew closer, the puppy instantly started growling. Elijah continued to reach out, unfazed by the puppy's attempt to scare him off. When Elijah grabbed a hold of the small animal, the puppy wastes no time biting his hand. Elijah let out a small chuckle as he carefully pried the puppy's jaws open, releasing his hand. While his right hand continued to hold the puppy up into the air, he used his left as a temporary muzzle to keep the puppy from biting him again.

"You know how to handle aggressive dogs?" the attendant asked, quite surprised by how he was handling the small creature.

"Yeah." Elijah answered as he continued to stare at the puppy. "You're a feisty little guy." He added as the puppy continued to growl at him. "Heel!" Elijah stated in a stern tone, startling the animal. His growls soon turned into small whimpers. Seeing that he had calmed down, Elijah removed his hand from around his mouth and held him with both hands. "I'll take this little guy. He just needs an alpha male to put him in his place." Elijah said with a small chuckle.

"Well normally I wouldn't sell an aggressive dog. But since you look like you know what you're doing, I'll make an exception just this once." She told him as she returned the small smile.

"Great." Elijah told her. "Oh. Do you have any chain link collars?" he asked.

"Sure, right this way." she told him as she gestured him to follow her.

In about thirty minutes or so of gathering the basic essentials for the puppy, giving him the necessary shots and finishing the paperwork, everything was completed. As for the puppy's name, Elijah decided to call him Buddy. With his new collar and dog tags secured around his neck, Buddy walked out of the store with his new owner following him. As the two walked down the sidewalk, heading towards the closest city bus stop, Elijah noticed an individual walking behind them. The stranger was clad in a dark colored trench coat with a black fedora covering his head. After walking a little farther down the street, he knew this guy was definitely following him. Elijah finally stops in his tracks and turns around to confront the stranger. Once he was standing before the individual, he noticed that the mysterious guy was also wearing tight dark and silver pants along with black combat boots.

7h ago"Why are you following me!?" Elijah asked in a demanding tone. However, the man just remained silent. Standing there, Elijah also noticed that the guy had long girlish looking blonde hair. "Look, whoever you are, you need to…"

"You're coming with me, Ghost." The stranger said. He tone was definitely that of a male, but it had a strange metallic sound to it as well.

As Elijah prepared himself to fight off this strange, if he decided to attack, a large truck came from out of nowhere and parked up against the sidewalk, right beside Elijah and the strange man standing before him. When the door opened, this caught Elijah's attention, which gave the stranger the opportunity to grab a hold of Elijah's arm. He quickly dragged Elijah into the vehicle, sitting him down right next to an unconscious individual who was already sitting there. Before he could get a good look at the individual and see who they were, a thick cloth was suddenly placed and held tightly over his mouth and nose. The substance within the fabric acts quickly, causing him to start losing consciousness. As he continued to struggle, his body finally went limp as he blacks out. Buddy, who was squirming in Elijah's arms, goes limp and blacks out as well. Once the task was done, the strange climbed into the truck and shuts the door as it took off down the road, heading to its next destination.


	5. Chapter V

here is the next chapter original draft made by Black Pitbull remade into end result by Kazumi silverwolf hatake enjoy readers...

**CHRISTIAN**

As Christian zoomed down the busy highway, professionally maneuvering the bike pass ongoing traffic, he maintained the maximum speed of Elijah's motorcycle. He continued to fly pass several vehicles, unaware that he was coming up to a pair of squad cars that were heading in the same direction. It wasn't until the sound of sirens, along with the all-too-familiar flashing red and blue lights, that he realized that the unmarked cars were in fact law enforcement motor vehicles. Knowing that they weren't the only ones around, he took a quick glance behind him to find several cars hastily approaching him.

"The term "persistent" would be an understatement for these assholes." Christian growled under his breath as he continued to avoid the cars before him. As he did so, several of them honked their horns, sounding irritated. He simply ignored them as he disappeared down the interstate.

Taking the next exit, Christian continued to speed down the ramp but had to come at an abrupt stop. The ramp had split into two different directions, but the way he needed to go, traffic was almost at a standstill. Not feeling up to being stuck in traffic, especially not while he was on a motorcycle and being chased by the local police, Christian decided to take the other route. As he made a U-turn, he was careful not to hit any of the cars around him. Christian was being careful not to scratch, or crash for that matter, Elijah's motorcycle, which was a bit surprisingly. Normally, a soldier would care less about scratching a vehicle, let alone worry about crashing it.

After successfully making it out the traffic jam, Christian rode down the second ramp with the multiple police cruisers tailing him. Hoping to lose them, Christian ripped through a nearby mall parking lot, to which the police foolishly follow him through. Civilians, who were minding their own business, were startled as the vehicles whipped pass them at amazing speeds. Instead of returning to the main highway, or any street for that matter, Christian continued forward and eventually ended up driving along a dirt road which led him straight into a nearby forest. It was a miracle that he hadn't been knocked off the bike by any of the low hanging branches while he sped through the area. Eventually, he made it to the other side and found himself on a different section of the highway. Glancing back, he found no sign of any police cruisers, which told him he successfully lost them. Good.

Seeing that it was safe for the moment, Christian slowed his speed and matched it to the legal speed limit within that area. Now he just had to focus on the road and nothing more. After driving down the paved road in peace for a solid fifteen minutes, his silence was disturbed by a familiar ringing inside his mind.

He carefully lifts his hand to touch his ear while he used the other to keep the bike balanced. After tapping his ear, he placed his hand back onto the handle bar.

"Talk…" Christian answered in a stern, but somewhat laid back, tone. He had expected the individual on the other end to call after he drove up next to them.

"What the hell were you thinking!?" Raiden's mechanical voice yelled in an angered tone inside Christian's head, causing the young male to cringe in pain.

"Jeez… dad, calm down. If you wanted a turn, all you needed to do was ask." Christian joked, but he knew his adopted father wasn't laughing. He knew he didn't even allow a smirk to grace his lips.

"Otacon just informed me that officers reported spotting a blonde haired male, who ranged between the ages of seventeen to nineteen, stealing a red motorcycle and was currently resisting arrest." Raiden exclaimed in anger. It was clear that he was beyond aggravated by Christian's sudden actions. "You wouldn't happen to know of the one responsible for this, do you?"

"From the sound of that description, it could be anyone." Christian answered in a somewhat teasing tone. "Anyway, I'm going on ahead. I'll meet you at Ghost's." Christian added, his tone sounding more serious this time. After ending the connection, Christian sped forward. As he did, he was completely unaware of the three girls from earlier, who were currently following him. They kept a good distance, not wanting to tip him off and make him think that he was being followed.

**ELIJAH (GHOST)**

After being out for no longer than a few minutes, ten at the most, Elijah awoke to find himself in a bowing position. No doubt this made it hard for him to get a good look at his surroundings or the individuals responsible for capturing him. Seeing that it was close to impossible to see any of their faces, without alerting them, Elijah started focusing on the physical aspects of the one who was closer to him. He looked strong and a bit bulky, as if his body was sculpted by hand. He also noticed the handle of a sheathed knife that was secured around his thigh. Elijah quickly assumed that he must have been a trained mercenary. Hell, he had to be since he easily caught him off guard and knocked him out with just using a few moves. And it was because of this assumption that Elijah started weighting out his options. His instincts, which he had relied on in the past, started to kick in. Those instincts gave him one, endless thought… Kill them before they kill him.

Then, without hesitation, Elijah quick grabbed a hold of the trench coat wearing stranger's knife, snatching it out of its sheath in the process. The moment he did so, he also delivered a swift elbow to their jaw.

Once he saw the man was stunned, Elijah acted on impulse and stabbed the male straight in his chest a few good times. The action caused a horrible scrapping sound as strange silver/clear liquid splattered out of the wounds and onto his face. Not wasting any more time on the man, who he presumed was dead by now; Elijah aimed to stab the other individual who sat on the other side of the unconscious person he spotted earlier. He would have gotten them if the person hadn't caught his wrist, keeping the blade away from him.

Suddenly, the individual used his free hand to catch Elijah by his head, slamming it down onto the plastic arm rest that sat in between the passenger and driver seats. Elijah's head was brought up and the next thing he knew, something hard collided with his skull. It felt like a brick or a piece of cinderblock. (Kind of ironic that this all took place inside the vehicle.) Whatever it was, it did its job and knocked Elijah to the edge of losing consciousness. Elijah could only look through blurred vision as he fought to keep himself awake.

"Damn it… You didn't call him a savage for nothing." The male, who Elijah thought had killed, stated with a hint of surprise in his tone. "He was like some kind of provoked, predatory animal."

"Strange… that dosage we gave him should have kept in out for a least a couple of hours." Said a familiar rough voice he remembered hearing that morning.

"Ha! The savage got you, Raiden?" He heard someone asked, this voice sounding even more familiar then the last. If he didn't know any better, he almost sounded like Mr. Woods. "Wow, I'm impressed. Now I see why he was given the nickname Ghost. It's the perfect name for him."

As Elijah continued to drift out of consciousness, he started to hear the roar of an engine. That's when it hits him. That was the sound of his motorcycle, he was sure of it. And it was that sound that brought him back to reality, but for only a brief moment. Before long, he was out of it. The last thing he remembered hearing before he was sent to oblivion was the second man yelling angrily to no one in particular.

**ERIN**

**Dream/Flashback…**

Erin found herself roaming through a large tropical rain forest, and just like before, she wasn't alone. However, instead of seeing Elijah there, this time around, there were three strange girls following her as she led the way. She had no idea who these girls were or why they were following her in the first place. Hell, she had no idea where she was heading.

"Wolf, where are we going?" someone behind her asked in a complaining tone. Remaining silent, the group continued to trudge forward.

"Wewe huko….. Kuacha!" (You there, stop!) Yelled a young male. The group paused in their tracks as they spotted a couple of young boys standing before them. Both were brandishing AK-47s. They looked to be no older than fifteen.

The two were wearing berets and were dressed in clothing that would normally be worn during the summer months. One was carrying a belt of grenades that hung across his shoulder and chest while the other had a MP7 strapped to his chest. Erin noticed that their faces and arms had multiple scars, plus they were wearing silver dog tags around their necks, alerting her and the others that these just weren't some teens hunting for food. They were soldiers, that point was clear.

"Wewe Ni nani nne? Na unafanya nini hapa?" (Who are you four? And what are you doing here?) The tougher of the two barked at the small group of women.

"Wasafiri…." (Travelers) Erin heard herself answer. She could hear the hint of fear within her tone. Of course she understood why. She and the others were unarmed and giving the situation, there was no way they could fight off these boys while they held guns and grenades on their person.

"Yako katika Wakatili wilaya…" (This savage's territory…) the other male stated as he nervously started looking around the area.

"Msiwe na wasiwasi. Tutaweza kuwalinda nne, nzuri na salama." (Don't worry. We'll keep you four, nice and safe.) The male that spoke earlier assured them as a dark smile slowly appeared on his face.

As he stepped closer to the group, Erin could easily smell the foul stench of alcohol lingering off the young male. When she tried to take a step back to distance herself from him, the boy grabbed a fistful of her shirt, pulling her towards him, keeping her from moving any farther. With his attention on Erin, he wrapped his free arm around her waist, slightly touching her butt. Erin could see the uncomfortable look present on her visualization self's face. Not only that but she herself started to feel uncomfortable. The young male had completely forgotten all about his comrade, who was suddenly dragged into the nearby shadows. Before the harsh looking teen could pull even Erin closer towards him, he froze in his tracks as an ear piercing scream is heard. Swiftly turning around, releasing Erin in the process, the boy started firing random shots in the direction he heard the scream come from. The young revolutionary finally stopped shooting once he had emptied his gun of all its bullets.

"Wakatili ni kutopata nafsi yangu." (The savage is not getting my soul.) The male said with a sigh as he started to reload his gun. But as he took out a new clip, he froze when he heard something hit the ground before him.

The sight before him caused him to tremble in fear. Curious, Erin looked over the boy's shoulder to see the other boy lying on the ground, dead. The boy's body was covered in bullet holes. It was obvious that the boy standing before her was the reason. Every single bullet he shot struck his partner. And that meant that whatever caused him to scream, was obviously still alive. And in addition to the bullet wounds, Erin also noticed the boy had stab wounds in his back. As they all stood there, a small dog like animal, that was covered in spots, came running out of the shadows and startled snarling at them. Something about the animal stroke fear into the young soldier, making him fall to the ground, cowering in fear at the sight of it.

"Hakuna… Hakuna… I hawataki kufa!" (No…. no…. I don't want to die!) The boy yelled as he backed away from the creature.

"Just what the hell is going on here!?" another one of her travel companions yelled in a very agitated and angry tone.

The screams soon started when a mysterious figure appeared behind the revolutionary, snatching him up off the ground, and placing him into a chokehold. He lifted his other hand, which was grasping a blood stained knife, and held it over the male's chest. Then, without hesitation, the individual brought the night down, stabbing his victim in the middle of his chest. Blood splattered from the wound, covering the individual's hands in the process. As he continued to stab the young male, his screams of pain slowly began to die down. Eventually, he went silent. When the body went limp, everyone knew it was over. The individual soon snatched off the dog tags from around his neck and carefully sat the lifeless body on the ground.

Suddenly, a slight whistle was heard. Whatever caused that sound caused the snarling animal to turn tail, disappearing back into the shadows. As Erin and the girls continued to look into the direction where the animal disappeared, once again, they spotted the figure. Erin could tell that the individual was male. And once he stepped into the light, revealing his face, Erin could only look at him in shock. It was none other than Elijah Carter. Seeing him only caused more questions to appear. What was he doing here? Ever since they met, why has she been having these flashbacks? What did these flashbacks had anything to do with Elijah and herself? It made no sense whatsoever. She knew there had to be some kind of connection that she was not getting.

As Elijah stood there, Erin noticed that he was topless and was only dressed in a plain pair of pants. Blood not only covered his hands, but some had splattered over his bare chest as well. But what really caught her attention was the expression he wore. It held no signs of remorse or regret, which was a bit strange since he had just taken the lives of two young boys. But in all honesty, they both had it coming to them.

"Who are you?!" One of the girls screeched as they slowly backed away from the heartless murder. All but Erin, who remained standing in the same spot.

Elijah stood there staring at them for a moment before he slowly started approaching them. He moved his hands slowly, not wanting to startle the girls, as he sheathed his knife. Once he reached the group, he slowly raised his hand and extended out before him. Instinctively, Erin flinched, thinking that he was about to do the same thing the revolutionary did merely minutes ago. She stood there for a few seconds… nothing happened. She cautiously opened her eyes and looked up, finding herself locking eyes with Elijah. When the two made eye contact, she saw something different in his eyes. Was it hope? Or was it something else? She wasn't sure, but the expressionless look from before had somewhat vanished. However, she still hesitated to move. And when she didn't react, Elijah just sat down before them.

"Ambao ni wewe?" (Who are you?) Erin heard herself ask him. It was obvious that she knew who he was, but apparently her visualization self didn't.

Elijah just looked at her for a minute before setting his sights to the ground before him. Using his finger, he wrote one simple word in Swahili into the dark dirt…. Roho (Ghost).

**End of Dream/Flashback…**

Erin awoke with a start and began to frantically look around, trying to figure out where she was. She found herself sitting inside a wooden chair inside a dimly lit room. Her arms and legs were free with no type of restraints in sight. And that's when everything started rushing back to her. She remembered Elijah and some idiot named Trent, she thinks that's what he's name was, in the middle of a heated confrontation. Then the next thing she knew, the idiot shot off a round that caused everyone to duck to the ground, covering their heads. And when the police arrived, everyone immediately started to panic even more. And it was during the chaos that someone had gotten behind her and dragged her away from the scene. She didn't get a good look at the person since they made sure they kept her eyes forward. But she was pretty sure the person was male.

Once they were away from the crowd, she remembered them slowly cutting off her air supply until she eventually passed out. That's when she started having that strange dream. Or was it a memory? Hell, she wasn't sure what to call it. And finally, she found herself sitting inside this room.

She could only wonder where the hell she was and why the hell she was here in the first place. Wherever here was. Those questions remained unanswered at the moment. As she continued to ponder her thoughts quietly, she was quickly brought out of them when she heard a rough voice come from somewhere within the room.

"Now that you're finally awake, it's time for you to answer some questions." The rough voice stated. Well, now she knew she wasn't alone. But to assume if this was a good thing or not, she wasn't sure of that just yet. "Let's get started, Crying Wolf. Or should I call you Erin instead?"

Looking over to her right, Erin spotted a male hiding within the shadows. He was an older man, who looked to be around in his late seventies or early eighties. He was donning some kind of G.I. Joe attire and had a green bandana tied around his forehead. The old man had his arms crossed against his chest while he stood with perfect posture for someone his age. But for some reason, he had the air of being much younger than he actually was lingering around him. The thought seemed odd, but she couldn't help that it could be true in some way. While staring at the man, she couldn't help but notice the cold, calculating stare the man held the entire time.

"You're right about my name being Erin. But unfortunately, I have no idea why you're referring me as this Crying Wolf." Erin stated as she slowly got up from her seat.

Upon reaching her full height, she felt a small amount of weight on her feet. Glancing down, she found a small ball of fur snuggling right between her feet. The small creature stopped moving and lifted its head to look at her. Analyzing the creature, she found that it was just a puppy, which was looking at her with slightly angered eyes. But nonetheless, the puppy looked adorable. Erin ignored the impulse to reach down and pet the animal on its head and redirected her attention back onto the older looking male. The man was now staring at her with aggravation.

"What do you mean you don't know who Crying Wolf is?!" the man barked at her, causing the small dog to yelp and squirm at Erin's feet.

"Like I said, I don't know who that is. I don't know how I can be much clearer than that." Erin told him as she slowly sat back down into the wooden chair, placing her hands in her lap. The last thing she wanted to do was provoke her captor, no, captors. After taking her seat, she noticed there was another male within the room. The blonde haired man was sticking to the shadows while he stood on the other side of the older male.

"Do you take me as a fool?! Who do you think I am?!" the older man asked as he reached behind his back and suddenly pulls out a skinny handgun with a silencer attached to it. Erin wasn't sure why, but she had a feeling that gun wasn't meant to kill anyone. But she stayed cautious, not wanting to find out.

"She doesn't know who you are, old man! So leave her out of this!" a familiar voice stated from within the room, causing Erin to freeze slightly.

Once she regained movement, Erin snapped her attention towards the direction she heard the voice come from. Her eyes widened in shock at the sight of Elijah. The young teen was handcuffed, which were chained to a bar that was attached to the wall, allowing him to hang by his wrists. His ankles were cuffed together and were chained to a bar that was attached to the floor. Every length of chain was pulled tightly, keeping Elijah firmly in place. He was only dressed in a pair of jeans and had gauze wrapped around his left arm. His pants pockets were pulled out, leaving nothing invisible. Erin found it a little strange that she didn't find herself in the same situation. Did they really trust her more than they did Elijah? Or maybe they thought Elijah was more of a threat than she was. Snapping herself out of her temporary trance, Erin turned back to face the older man.

"Why the hell is he chained up like that?!" Erin exclaimed as she looked at the men with anger. "What did you do to him?!"

"It's okay Erin, just calm down." Elijah told her in a surprisingly cool tone. He sounded as if he didn't care about the position he was in.

"Calm down? How can I calm down while you're looking like you're about to be beaten and tortured within an inch of your life for disobeying your master or something?!" Erin barked angrily at the boy. "How the hell can you be so damn calm in a situation like this?!"

"Heh… This is getting interesting…." Stated another familiar voice. Erin knew she only heard him talk for a little while, but she was sure who the voice belonged to.

Turning around, Erin found the boy named Ethan standing in the shadows as well. He was donned in a pair of army fatigue pants with black boots and a black sleeveless t-shirt. He had his gun secured inside its holster on the left side of his waist. He also wore a black beret, which kept his hair from falling in his face. Without the strands to cover his face, the three markings on his cheeks could easily be seen.

The first and second marks were paralleled to each other as they stretched horizontally across his face, the top upper one slightly edged toward his nose, the third and final mark stretched vertically down his cheek, down onto his neck and disappearing under his shirt. The entire time, Ethan wore a smile that looked like it belonged to a kid who had got lost in a candy store and was just told he could eat as much as he wanted.

Erin could only look at the boy with a shocked expression on her face. She wondered why the hell he was here anyway.

"Ethan? What the heck?" Erin gasped out. "What are you doing here?"

"Glad you remembered my name, Erin." He told her, sending her a small smile in the process.

"I saw you stealing my bike. Did you scratch it, you sneaky bitch?" Elijah snarled, which only amused Ethan (Christian).

"No, I didn't. But I must say; that baby can really fly down the highway." Ethan stated as he added a slight whistle at the end of his comment.

"It's a sports bike, dumbass. It's supposed to be that fast…" Elijah told him with a hint of pride in his tone as he talked about his prized machine.

"Christian….!" Said Mr. Woods with annoyance clearly in his voice. Erin glanced over to her left and found her so-called math teacher standing there. He was also donning pair of fatigues, which looked similar to those the old man was wearing. While he stood there, he was holding his hand close to his gun.

"Yeah? What do you want, Bear?" Christian (Ethan) asked Bear (Mr. Woods) as he continue to hold a smile on his face.

"Shut the hell up!" Bear barked angrily at the younger male.

"Yes sir." Christian answered as he kept his smile present on his face. He soon looked back over to Elijah. "Anyway…. we cool, Ghost?" he asked, causing anger to build up more inside Bear.

"Yeah… after I get these damn cuffs off and break my foot up your ass!" Elijah snapped at the blonde, making everyone within the room, even the ones who haven't been noticed, to start laughing. Even the old man, who looked like he never laughed a day in his life.

"Alright, that's enough of that. Back to business." The older man stated, causing everyone to stop laughing instantly. "So Ghost… are you going to join us?" He asked as he pointed his gun at him.

"Last time I checked, I've always worked alone. I never played for any side to begin with, so why should I start now?"Elijah stated in a smart tone at the old man, not showing a hint of fear even when he had a gun aimed at him.

The old man just stared at Ghost (Elijah); his snarky comment didn't faze him at all. He was about to ask again but was stopped when they heard someone knocking on the door. At first it was light but it quickly turned into furious banging.

"Who is it?" Elijah yelled into the direction of the portal to the house, which seemed to echo off the walls.

"Let us in Ghost!" An enraged feminine voiced yelled from the other side of the door, the mention of Elijah's supposed nickname shocked about almost everyone in the room. All except the old man and Elijah himself.

When the door finally opened, three sets of footsteps could be heard echoing off the walls of the room as the individuals strode inside. Elijah started to twist his body, attempting to position himself to see the newcomers as they entered. Sadly it was useless. Everyone just remained silent as they all stared at the group.

"This situation is getting weirder by the minute." Erin thought to herself as she tried to figure out just what the hell was going on.

Everyone inside noticed the three newcomers were all girls but of different nationalities. The first was of Asian descent; the second looked to be from South America and the third was a blonde Scandinavian, who was sending Christian a few interested glances his way. This also caused the small dog to let out a low but noticeable bark, as if it wanted to be acknowledged that it was still within the room.

"And who the heck are you three?" Bear asked. Christian wondered the same thing and was curious of the girls' sudden appearance.

"Screaming Mantis." The South American stated simply.

"Raging Raven." Stated the Asian, each word was spat out in anger.

"Laughing Octopus." The Scandinavian blonde stated last as she stuck her tongue out at Christian, giving him a quick wink as well.

Everyone within the room, with the exception of Elijah, Erin and the old man, looked at the girls as if they all had seen a Ghost. (No pun intended.) They were all shocked to hear those very names each girl introduced themselves as.

"The Beauty and the Beast Corps…" The old man stated in his rough, raspy tone.

"Hmpf…. Nice to see you too, Solid Snake." Stated Screaming Mantis as she set her eyes on the old man After a momentary stare down, she looked away and directed her attention onto the retrained Elijah.

Then without a single word, she slowly started approaching the young teen. "Unfortunately we don't have the time to catch up. For you see, I have business to discuss with Ghost and Wolf here."

The two widened their eyes in shock at the sound of their given nicknames, and just looked at the girl with confusion. Mainly Erin was staring at her with confusion since Elijah couldn't move his head far enough to look at the South American native. Erin still had no clue as to why these people were referring to her as this Wolf or Crying Wolf, but she knew the one who called themselves Screaming Mantis was talking about her and Elijah. And this so-called business she had with them, she had no clue as to what it could be about either.

As Erin stood there, listening to Screaming Mantis voice, she couldn't help but feel that she heard it somewhere before. That's when it hit her. The dream… err… flashback… whatever she had before waking up within the room. Even though some time had pass, it was still kind of fresh in her mind. She remembered hearing one of the girls with the same tone, only in her dream; they were complaining. She couldn't help but ask herself if these girls had anything to do with that flashback. And if they knew her and Elijah, then why don't they remember them? It was obvious that Elijah didn't know them since Erin noticed the confused look on his face.

But one thing was clear to her at this point. Things were just going to continue getting stranger from here on out. And she could only hope that she can figure out what was going on and why these people were after her and Elijah.

I hope you enjoyed this I would love feedback and reviews, because reviews tell me people or interested not the stats


	6. Chapter VI

**Thank you for reading this far this is where something's in the story get set straight and more into Elijah's past is shown. Well without further ado present to you the next Chapter. **

**ENJOY**

**Black Pitbull**

**ELIJAH (GHOST)**

Even though his restraints weren't much and merely consisted of highly graded military handcuffs that were attached to steel chains and were being pulled tightly around metal bars, they were certainly doing their job of keeping him locked firmly in place. And thanks to the stack of weights behind him, which would take about three people to lift, he was also suspended five to six inches above the ground.

Luckily for him, he knew exactly how to escape out of these types of cuffs. However, that was the least of his worries at the moment. Thanks to the snarky comment he made, he was able to get an estimate of exactly how many people were inside the room besides 'Ethan' (Christian), 'Mr. Woods" (Bear), the individual attempting to keep to the shadows (Raiden) and the old man who seemed younger than he looked (Old Snake).

When laughter filled the room, Elijah was able to make out six different tones, which lead to a total of six people in all. His little tactic may seem like nothing more than a harmless, rebellious remark, but in all honesty, it was his way of sizing up the situation.

And since the individuals within the room all started to laugh, and no one was suspicious of his statement whatsoever, the tactic was a success. At least now he wouldn't be caught off guard if one of the other two individuals jumped in while he attempted to escape.

"So Ghost, will you join us?" the old man asked in his rough, raspy voice.

The sudden question brought Elijah out of his thoughts, causing the teen to push his complex plan into the far reaches of his mind while he drew up words to answer the question. Of course, his answer was quick and simple but unfortunately, it wasn't the answer the older gentleman was looking for.

He just remained silent as he continued to stare him down. Elijah just stared back, knowing that his captor will continue to ask him the same question until he received the answer he wanted. However, before he could, there was an unexpected knock at the door. Instinctively, Elijah answered and what he heard surprised him. An enraged feminine voice answered from the other side of the door.

When the door opened, three sets of footsteps echoed off the walls within the room as the three newcomers strode inside. When the women were ordered to identify themselves, they each announced their names: Screaming Mantis, Raging Raven and Laughing Octopus. After hearing the names once, Elijah repeated them inside his head. They were quite strange, but they started to sound strangely familiar to him for some odd reason. He felt as if he'd heard those names before, however, he couldn't place when or where he heard them.

"The Beauty and Beast Corps…" the old man stated in a stern, raspy voice.

"Hmpf…. It's nice to see you as well, Solid Snake." The South American (Screaming Mantis) muttered in a monotone voice as she set her eyes on the old man. "Unfortunately for you, we don't have time to catch up."

"We have other matters to attend to." The young Asian (Raging Raven) added in an angered tone.

"Let me guess. You've come to collect you sister?" the old man, Solid Snake, asked. Elijah found it kind of weird that he was being called Solid Snake instead of Old Snake.

"You're correct." Mantis answered in a computerized voice as she turned her sights onto Elijah. "I also need Ghost… after I unlock his and Wolf's memories." She added as she sent a dark look towards Elijah as if he was her archenemy.

Elijah didn't understand it at first, but he had a deep, intense feeling towards the group of women, particularly towards Screaming Mantis. And after a moment of consideration, he found that the feeling was pure rage and hatred. He felt that somehow, someway, the young South American wronged him in the past. He didn't know how or why, but she did.

"Ghost isn't going…" Snake started to say, but was interrupted by Erin. The teen definitely wasn't enjoying the situation. Plus, she was becoming irritated with these people calling her Crying Wolf, or just Wolf in general.

"How do either one of you know Elijah anyway?" Erin asked in a demanding tone. She bravely glared at Snake for a minute before turning towards Mantis, sending her an almost fearful, intimidating glare.

"Don't worry, sis. Once your memories are unlocked, you'll know how we know Ghost." The Scandinavian Blonde (Laughing Octopus) answered with a slight chuckle. "Along with other things, like why you're known as Crying Wolf."

"That's not answering my question!" Erin snapped.

"You want to know?" Snake asked, catching Erin's attention. "Then I'll tell ya. I first encountered Ghost here during a mission I had in Africa. I was sent there to take out a few targets that were known as Drebins."

"Wait a minute. You went after targets named Drebins?" Elijah asked. "How is that even possible? I clearly remember killing someone by that name."

"Well kid, there is more than one person with that name." Snake told him. "They are all named Drebin but are identified by their numbers. For example, one can be identified as Drebin #193 another, Drebin #348. You get the general idea. Anyway, my objective was to enter African airspace and land into African soil, which was relatively easy. The difficult task was prying in on a meeting that a group of Drebins were holding, collect as much information as possible and get out without being detected."

**SOLID/OLD SNAKE**

After dropping into African territory without being detected, Snake had to find the exact location of where the meeting would be held. He knew it would be either in one of their three major camps: Alpha, Bravo and Charlie, or in one of their sub camps: Delta, Echo and Foxtrot. However, as for the sub camps, he only had to worry about Delta and Foxtrot since Echo was crossed out. Apparently it had been burned to the ground by an unknown assailant that was roaming though the jungles, taking out soldiers in the process.

There was nothing on the assailant, not even a list of suspects. But honestly it could be anyone, especially those who were enemies or threats to the Drebins. Sadly, those who were able to come into contact with the vigilante didn't live long enough to give an accurate description since they were quickly struck down. And when their bodies were found, they would be covered in knife wounds and their dog tags would be missing.

**Flashback – Africa (Mission: Infiltrate Drebin Base, Gather Information)**

Deep within the heart of one of the many jungles in Africa, Snake was carefully making his way to one of the Drebins major campsites, Charlie. Unfortunately for him, he had to carry out his mission during a heavy summer rainstorm. Thanks to the rain, the dirt roads became muddy and everything else was soaked.

But thanks to his Sneaking (OctoCamo) Suit, he was able to stay dry and warm, not having to worry about the bad weather. Before long, Snake made it to the edge of Camp Charlie. It was quite a challenge to find this camp since the Drebins didn't want to be tracked down by their enemies or the unknown assailant. So keeping the meeting a secret was no doubt a top priority for the group.

Before he arrived at Charlie, or knew that's where he needed to go, he gathered information from child soldiers that were patrolling the area he entered. When he approached the kids, he noticed that they literally looked scared out of their young minds.

It was obvious that they didn't want to be out at night, so they stayed together in at least groups of three. However, three or four child soldiers weren't enough to stop the trained mercenary. While Snake was "chatting" with them, the young soldiers were reluctant to talk and even begged for their lives. But eventually they finally gave up the information Snake wanted and more. That's when he learned about an individual known as the Ghost of Africa, or simply Ghost.

As a result, the Intel he gathered brought him to Charlie. The entire base was sitting in a large sinkhole surrounded by a large metal fence. In Snake opinion, he thought this was a terrible place to set up a major base. Even if they posted group patrols around the area, it wouldn't mean a thing if they were attacked by a sudden aerial assault. Snake hid quietly in the lush vegetation as he watched a small group of six child soldiers, which varied of different ages, walk right pass him.

He noticed the kids were clothed in tattered shirts, pants and shoes and were brandishing AK-47s and MP5s. They were also wearing metal dog tags around their necks. Snake also noticed the boys had scars running up and down their arms. No doubt the cause of the injuries came from knives. All six boys had the look of fear on their faces. They kept looking to the shadows, as if something, or someone, may jump out and attack them at any given moment. And to help calm each other down, some went as far as to holding each others' hands.

Once the group was gone, Snake made his move. Quietly, but quickly, he ascends the fence, drops down to the other side and descends the incline with caution. Upon reaching the bottom, he ducks behind a nearby building, avoiding a spotlight that was heading his way. While he waited for the light to pass by his location, he noticed the name of the organization branded on the brick walls of the buildings. The name of the extremist revolution organization was Nafsi Giza.

Translating the Swahili language to English, the text read: Dark Soul. And just like the many groups before them, this organization was also known for its brutal exploits, ways of entertainment, and its cruel and unusual way of recruiting its soldiers, which were mostly children that ranged from the ages of twelve to seventeen. And just like the Joseph Kony Revolution, they made children the majority of the organization. Their objective was to turn the boys into hardened soldiers while the girls became nothing more than sex/domestic slaves.

Once the spotlight was gone, Snake ran out, heading towards the main building that stood on the other side of the area. The sudden sound of a horn blowing causes Snake to skid to a stop and duck behind a nearby wall. Using the shadows as cover, Snake watched as the child soldiers started to leave in large groups. Some were running as they shouted to their fellow youths in surprisingly jovial tones. Whatever was about to happen, or whatever was happening, certainly excited the soldiers. Allowing his curiosity to get the best of him, Snake started to move around the building. Reaching the area, he found a stack of crates, which provided him with enough cover to spy on the gathering. Peeping over the top crate, Snake found the children surrounding a fence that was attached to a brick building that stood next to it.

The horn was blown for a second time, causing the crowd to cheer with excitement as they raised their weapons into the air. To get a closer look at the situation, Snake used his Solid Eye. The moment he does so, he found a set of metal doors opening. Two larger soldiers walked out, dragging out a younger looking boy with them. The boy looked to be fourteen years of age and had his hands cuffed behind him.

He looked beaten and malnourished and was dressed in ragged clothing with his arms wrapped in dirty gauze. Once in the center of the arena, the two boys dropped him onto his knees and freed him off his restraints. They turned around, walked back into the building and returned with another prisoner in their grasps. This one looked older, probably around seventeen or so.

He too was dragged into the center of the arena, dropped to his knees and freed of his restraints. His arms and upper chest were wrapped in gauze as well. With the two competitors in the ring, the two boys walked back into the building, shutting the metal doors tightly behind them.

The Fourteen and Seventeen year olds slowly got to their feet and faced each other. At that exact moment, the horn was blown for a third time. When knives, such as daggers and machetes, were thrown into the ring, the boys each grabbed one and readied themselves for what was about to happen next.

"This wasn't a game; this was blood sport, plain and simple." Snake thought to himself.

The fourteen year old grabbed the black machete while the older teen grabbed the daggers. As the two started to circle each other, the spectators started to cheer for the bloodshed that was about to take place. The younger teen lunged out first, only to miss and end up getting clipped by his older opponent. Regaining his balance, the younger boy rushed forward as he swung his weapon furiously, successfully slashing his opponent a few times. Before he could get another hit in, the older teen was able to stab him in his side.

The short break from the younger teen's attack allowed the older teen to drive his knife into his arm. He quickly knocked him back, causing him to fall down onto the muddy ground.

The action also causes the younger teen to lose his grip of his weapon. The seventeen year old grabbed the machete and stalked his opponent while he attempted to drag himself away. Sadly his attempt to escape ended when he met the metal fence. Lifting his foot, the older boy kicked his opponent in the stomach, making him flip onto his back. When he looked up, he found the older boy glaring him down as he raised the machete over his head.

At this moment, the crowd was chanting, making their own voices merge with the sound of the thunderclaps from high above. Then without a second thought, the older teen brought the weapon down, striking his opponent. The bloodcurdling scream that came from the younger teen was silenced by the heavy downpour, the deafening thunderclap and the chanting that continued.

Once the task was completed, the older teen stood back up, wiping the blood and rainwater from his face. Seeing that he had won the competition, he pumped his fist into the air, starting another round of cheering. And to prove that the fight was over, the horn was blown once more.

The celebration ended when the victorious child soldier was brought back to his knees by the two older boys from earlier. After replacing the restraints back on, they dragged him back into the building while the crowd dispersed and headed back to their posts.

"These aren't soldiers… they're nothing but animals!" Snake screamed in his head. He could only scowl at the form of entertainment they made for themselves here.

Regardless of what he thought about it, he had a mission to complete. Moving away from the crates, Snake continued to tread through Camp Charlie and came across a lone Gekko. It was lying in pieces, covered by a large tarp. And beside the machine, he spotted the female Drebin kneeling before it as she looked over the dismantled two legged monstrosity.

There were also two domestic slaves standing nearby as one held a box of tools while the other handed them to the female Drebin while she worked. As Snake analyzed the machine himself, he came to the conclusion that it looked as if it took a direct hit from an RPG round. When one of the two assistants looked up and spotted Snake, they stumbled backwards and began to back away. This alerted Drebin #425 of his presence and caused the second assistant to start backing away as well.

Panicking, the Drebin drew her AK-47 from her back. But before she could fire off a single shot, Snake was quick enough to disarm her and pull her into a headlock. With #425 detained, Snake drew his weapon and tranquillized the other two before they could get away. He then directed his attention onto the female Drebin and started questioning her.

And after some "persuasion" he got the Intel he wanted. Seeing that he got all the information out of her, Snake tranquilized her as well and quickly left the area. When he returned to the outskirts of the camp, he froze when he heard someone scream in agony. Acting quickly, Snake lunged off to the side, striking a marksman pose as he held out his M-4 assault rifle, ready to fire a shot at any given moment.

As he looked around, he caught the strong scent of blood in the air. Looking to the ground, he found a dark puddle of liquid at his feet. Dipping his index and middle fingers into the puddle, he used the Solid Eye to analyze the liquid. He found the substance was none other than blood. Looking up, he saw a trail leading from the puddle, marking the path before him.

Following the trail, he stumbled onto a body. Snake cautiously approached the down figure and found it was a child soldier. The young boy was covered in stab wounds, mostly in the torso and chest. His lips were parted, allowing blood to exit the corner of his mouth and trickled down his jaw. His lifeless eyes were glazed over as they stared towards the thunderhead clouds high above.

His hands looked as if they had been clawing at the ground, which would explain the boy's bloody fingertips. Examining the area farther, Snake spotted another body as it laid against a large tree trunk. When he approached that body, he realized that there were two machete blades piercing the chest. Seeing the bodies, Snake realized two things. One, he remembered seeing these boys earlier. They were with the group of six that were patrolling the fence. And two, they were missing their dog tags. He assumed that these two boys were killed by the same individual. It had to be the vigilante known as Ghost.

Suddenly another bloodcurdling scream echoed through the air, catching Snake's attention. Following the sound, Snake found himself standing in a small clearing. He also came face-to-face with a horrific sight. Three more bodies were found strewn about the grassy, muddy ground. One boy was lying up against a tree; another was laying face first in the mud, a few feet away from the first.

He looked like he was reaching for his MP7 that was only a few meters out of his reach. And as for the third, the boy was still alive but just barely. He was dragging himself towards Snake; however, he fell over and died before he could reach him. Snake couldn't imagine how someone could do such a thing, especially to children. Another scream caused Snake to take his eyes off the boy and pull him out of his thoughts. This time around, the chilling sound of a child screaming was just feet away from him.

In the darkness, he spotted a figure standing before a child soldier that was pinned up against a tree. The boy was coughing and gagging off his own blood as it flowed out of his mouth like a makeshift waterfall. He could also see three machete blades protruding from his body. The figure, who doesn't seem to be aware of Snake's presence, lifted his arm into the air, revealing a machete in his grasp. Then without any hesitation, he drove the weapon into the center of the boy's chest, killing him.

"Kufungia!" (Freeze!) Snake yelled.

When that said figure turned to face him, Snake found him staring him down with dark, unremorseful eyes. As the two stared each other down, Snake saw a glint of something metal being thrown in his direction. That was the only warning he received and luckily for him, he was able to dodge the object before it had a chance to strike him. He found another blade being thrown at him the moment his eyes returned onto the figure. Acting quickly, he was successfully able to dodge that one as well.

As he dodged yet another blade, he knew he had to hurry and disarm this individual because there was no way he could continue with this charade all night. After dodging a few more, Snake was finally able to get in close enough to disarm the figure but soon found himself fighting him in hand-to-hand combat. To Snake's surprise, the individual was fairly good, nearly matching his own skills. The fight continued a few minutes more until Snake separated from his opponent.

The reason for him doing so was because Otacon contracted him, warning him that Nafsi Giza reinforcements were heading directly towards him. The sound of an artillery truck could be heard in the distance, confirming the report. As the two continued their little standoff, the figure started to back away, distancing himself farther away from Snake. Just before he disappeared within the shadows, a spark on the ground caught Snake's attention.

That small spark grew into a raging fire, separating Snake from the figure that stood on the other side. The flames illuminated the figure's dark, unremorseful eyes before they disappeared into the shadows. Retreating from the fire, Snake was able to escape the area, just seconds before reinforcements finally arrived. Once he was out of enemy territory, Snake found himself standing near a cliff that overlooked the entire base.

Finally having a moment to catch his breath, Snake recapped on the events that just played out. For one, he saw that the individual knew his way around knives, was very skilled in close-quarters-combat and could literally fight in pit black darkness. It was clear that he could and can kill brutally and without any remorse. There was no doubt in Snake's mind that the individual he encountered was none other than the vigilante. A ghost that kept to the shadows as he struck down his enemies. Well, now he knows how he got the name.

Snake was brought out of his thoughts when he heard the sound of an explosion going off. There he found one of the buildings within the camp burning out of control. A single trail of fire traveled from the building and through the camp, as if it was on a set path, slowly turning the place into a raging inferno. The entire camp was thrown into chaos as the soldiers ran frantically around. Some attempted to extinguish the flames while others looked for a way out.

Snake could only stand there and stare at the burning camp in awe. As he did so, an image of the figure he fought flashed through his mind. Their dark and unremorseful eyes looked as if they were staring dead into his soul as they vanished behind a blaze of flames. The figure was a ghost with a vendetta towards both sides of the war, if the bloody scene was any indication of that.

When the Codec went off, Snake answered the call and heard the voice of Drebin #893. The dark skinned gun launderer gave him as much info as he could on the vigilante. And it seemed that the legend of the Ghost of Africa was a fitting title for the rogue child soldier that held it. And it was at that moment that Snake decided to track down this Ghost before he went on to terminate the other rouge Drebins.

Days passed and with no signs of finding the elusive killer, Snake decided to give up on the search in favor of accomplishing his mission. It wasn't easy sneaking into the meeting, especially since the rouge group strengthened their security with more experienced child soldiers. Snake assumed they heard the news of what happened at Camp Charlie, so the group wasn't taking any chances here.

As Snake listened in on the conversation, he learned that the rogue Drebins were planning on staging a coup d'état and then attacking America during the chaos. Apparently they had more stolen Military technology and one Drebin even commented that he had gotten his hands on a lost Metal Gear Ray unit from an old source… Having heard enough of this, Snake quickly took out the remaining members, completing his mission. But now, he had a new objective: Finding the MGR unit.

Another couple of days passed and Snake had accomplished his task of find the MGR unit. Once in the Sahara Desert, Snake wasted no time activating the self-destruct sequence. The colossal machine exploded into a raging ball of fire, leaving behind nothing more than burnt pieces of scrap metal. With his missions completed, Snake headed out to search for Ghost one final time before leaving. Surprisingly he stumbled across Ghost when he found himself inside a small clearing near a cliff face that overlooked a glorious waterfall.

And with it being pitch black, Snake had to resort to using his Solid Eye's night vision mode. Sadly the tool didn't last long. Ghost was able to blindside Snake, using one of his knives to slice clean through the eye patch. Just as Drebin #893 told him, he used the shadows to catch his enemies off guard.

Once again, Snake found himself fighting against Ghost in close-quarter-combat. But this time around, it shifted from CQC to a game of cat and mouse. Ghost would hide in the shadows, attempting to catch Snake off guard. Unfortunately for Ghost, Snake wasn't one to underestimate. The fight prolonged for hours until Snake caught sight of Ghost, who remained hiding in the shadows, and took aim with his sniper rifle. The bullet exited the barrel at a blinding speed, flying directly towards Ghost. In an instant, the bullet struck Ghost in the chest, the force sending him over the edge of the cliff.

Dawn was slowly approaching as Snake glanced over the edge of the cliff, looking over the area where he shot Ghost into the waterfall. There was no sign of the child soldier as the current of water flowed violently over the falls. The rushing water below was just as rough and choppy, making it harder to see if he even landed in or near the water at all. And thanks to the waves, he couldn't spot his body. Since there wasn't a single piece of plausible evidence, or even a body for that matter, Snake wasn't sure if the boy survived the fall or not. He learned not to conclude anything until he had evidence to prove such. For now, he had no other choice but to leave it alone since he would be departing the continent in a few hours.

**Several Months Later…**

Ever since his mission in Africa, Snake had been keeping tabs on the local hospitals near the waterfall Ghost had fallen from, as well as the rivers that flowed from the falls. Unfortunately, there hadn't been any reports that matched the description of the individual he encountered that fateful day. That was until information on a mysterious case showed up at a local Angela hospital in Africa caught Snake's attention. A young male about eighteen, possibly nineteen or twenty years old, a soldier of the Nafsi Giza, mysteriously appeared on the front steps of the hospital. The young male's injuries consisted of a serious bullet wound to the chest, along with multiple cuts and bruises. The sources stated that it was a miracle that he was still alive.

Thanks to old American records and identification cards, which were nearly a decade old, they were able to identify the young male. The teen was identified as Elijah Carter, an American native. The medical records confirmed that he was traumatized severely, of course the multiple scars that covered his body proved that fact to be truthful. Not only that, but he also suffered from extreme sociological problems that dealt with human interaction. Snake also learned that they transported him back to the states, to be exact; they sent him back to his home state of Georgia.

Seeing that this individual somewhat fit the characteristics of the very person he was looking for, Snake decided to visit this Elijah Carter. Supposedly, they sent him back to receive therapy and to evaluate the level of education he currently has. Apparently not a single one of his relatives have claimed him ever since he was sent back.

When Snake arrived at the center Elijah was staying in, he entered the teen's room. To his surprise, Elijah didn't speak a single word. He answered no questions that were asked, gave no comments and didn't make a single sound. He just sat there and stared blankly at Snake, the doctor and the nurse that stood before him. Nothing but utter silence. When Snake asked to see Elijah's injuries, he found the dark skinned male had two bullet wounds at the corner of his chest, just between the left lung and his heart. One looked old while the other looked like it was still healing.

After that, Snake left and ended it there. However, since he knew of Ghost's true identity, he decided to keep tabs on the young male. And thanks to the help of an old friend, who lead a group that was known as Soldiers without Borders, he was able to keep an eye on Elijah's every move.

Snake knew almost everything he did and even got a few video surveillance clips of Elijah training himself and his talent of fighting with knives. Then before long, a new threat arose and was known simply as…the OUTBREAK. Because the threat level of this epidemic was elevated, Snake needed all the capable men and women he could find in order to fight it. That also included Elijah or to those who knew him in Africa, Ghost.

Thanks for reading the next chapter is not scheduled to appear anytime soon

Black pitbull


	7. Chapter VII

Thanks for waiting, and i can not stress this enough. I DO NOT OWN the metal gear franchise, KONAMI does people and thats all

_ Black PitBull

**ELIJAH (GHOST)**

At first it was just the six mercenaries he had to deal with, but now, now he had to worry about these three new distractions he knew nothing about. And even though he didn't show it, Elijah was a bit intrigued by the trio. Luckily that only lasted for about thirty seconds at the most. Pushing that aside, he returned his focus on the matter at hand; getting him and Erin out of the current predicament they were in. But as he looked at the nine individuals standing within the room, he was beginning to think that attempting to escape this mess with Erin was an option that was slowly dying.

"Well, that explains why you and your men are after him. But…" Erin told Solid Snake as she stood from her seat. Turning her head, she looked towards the trio of girls. "That still leaves you three." She told them. "Why are you after him? And me? And how the heck could you three know us when we have never met before? It doesn't make any sense."

Before Screaming Mantis could answer, Raging Raven and Laughing Octopus quickly rush over to the amber-eyed teen, flanking her from both sides. Grabbing her arms tightly, the two roughly push her back down into the chair. While they held her down, keeping her in place, Mantis stepped forward and stood in front of Erin, staring her down.

"This is how I know." Mantis spoke before jabbing her index and middle fingers into Erin's temples. Erin looked fine for a few seconds before she slumped over in her seat, unconscious.

"What the hell was that?!" Christian (Ethan) exclaimed as he stood there watching. "What the heck did you do to her?"

"I'm doing exactly what I said I would." Mantis answered in her monotonous voice as she turned to look at him. "I'm unlocking her memories."

**ERIN (WOLF)**

**Subconscious….**

Once again, for the second time that day (or night), Erin found herself standing within the center of a dark abyss. There was no beginning, no end, nothing. After looking around for the umpteenth time, she suddenly spots something white in the distance. It seemed miniscule at first, but at a steadily pace, it started becoming bigger and brighter. She could only assume it was a light of some sort. After staring at the light for about a minute or so, she felt herself being pulled by an invisible force. She wasn't sure what was causing this strange phenomenon, but she quickly noticed that it was pulling her straight towards the bright ominous light.

Of course, Erin heard the expression "don't go into the light" many times and didn't want to go near the strange white light for that very reason. She wanted to live. But as the force continued to pull on her, it would stop only to start once more. And she wasn't sure if it was her mind playing tricks on her, but she could have sworn that the force was growing stronger with each pause. In order to keep herself from entering the light, all Erin could do was attempt to sink her heels into the ground, but that wasn't helping at all. And thanks to that attempt, Erin somehow lost her footing and ended up falling back first to the surprisingly hard ground below her.

Now, she found herself being dragged along the nonexistent ground. As she continued to claw at the ground, hoping to at least slow herself down, she glanced over her shoulder to find the white dot behind her was ten times bigger than it was a second ago. Eventually, the white light engulfed Erin, blinding her in the process. With her eyes closed firmly, Erin had only her remaining four senses at her disposal. But when she tried to sense things through hearing, all she was met with was silence, a maddening dead silence that surrounded her. Then suddenly, a high pitch cry echoed through her ears. One that a baby would no doubt make. It took her a moment before she realized that the one creating the high pitch wail was her. And she didn't calm down until she was gently placed into someone's arms.

Taking a chance, Erin opened her eyes to find a beautiful set of deep brown eyes staring lovingly down at her. As the eyes pulled away from her, Erin found the eyes belonged to a delicate but angular face of a young woman. And the first thought that quickly came to her was this woman was her mother. She was sure of it.

"Welcome to the world, my little Ashia." Her mother said to her.

Ashia? Ashia meant hope… and that was her name? Her actual name. And all this time, she thought Erin was the one and only name she had. She couldn't help but to feel a bit confused about this. She even wondered if Mantis had something to do with her witnessing what was happening at this very moment when she jabbed her in the sides of her head. And seeing that there was literally no way out of this, she assumed that all she could do was to wait and see what would happen next.

As time ticked by, Ashia (Erin) went through several years of her life. Day by day, hour by hour, she was literally reliving her life one moment at a time. Throughout this life journey, she found that she did have a family one point in her life. One who loved her unconditionally and with all of their hearts. She could recall every single moment she spent with them in vivid detail. It was amazing that all this time, her mind was holding so much information about herself. And she found out some very interesting information (in her opinion).

Like for instance. At the young age of 3, she could walk and trot around without falling or having to use someone or something as a crutch to keep herself up. By age 6, she could speak whole sentences very clearly, which came in handy. After all, she was a part of a family of five. And the small town she lived in, it was a place where everyone practically knew everyone. By the time she turned eleven, she could travel through the fields if she wanted. She would usually find herself playing with the other girls her age. But it was a bit strange because most girls her age played with homemade dolls and/or flowers. Ashia on the other hand was a little more tomboyish to say the least.

One day, while out playing with her friends, she spotted a lone boy standing in the fields. For some odd reason, he was starring at her and her friends as they ran around. Pausing, she turned to call out to him. The action caused her friends to stop with one of them asking Ashia who she was talking to. Ashia quickly turned back towards them, explaining to them that there was a boy standing in the tall grass. They all just gave her a strange look while telling her that no one was there. Looking back, Ashia soon found that the boy she spotted was nowhere in sight. It was as if he had vanished without a trace, but she knew what she saw.

The following day, she wanted to prove to her friends that she did see someone. So she set out towards the fields in search of the boy. The tall grass was about as tall as she was, causing her difficulty finding anyone, or anything, within it. After awhile, she finally decided to give up on her search and head back home. As she turned herself around, she found herself freezing in her steps when she heard a voice come out of nowhere. Glancing around, she didn't see anyone around.

"Je, si hoja… (Don't move…)" the voice stated in a low tone.

Feeling herself starting to panic, Ashia immediately started looking around and stopped when she spotted a pair of large yellow eyes staring her down. It was a lioness, and it was stalking her. Ashia soon felt an overwhelming fear appear in the middle of her chest. She knew there was no way she could fight off or out run a lioness. Moving slowly, she started to back away, hoping that there was a slim chance she could get away. But as she did so, she mistakenly stepped onto a stick that was lying on the ground. The twig snapped, causing the lioness to lunge forward. Before she knew it, the lioness had already closed the gap in between them. The wild cat pounced, aiming to rip Ashia to shreds. But the large cat was suddenly knocked off course by the very boy she was looking for.

There was a scuffle between the two as large claws and bladed weapons flew through the air. In the end, the boy was somehow able to kill the large cat, thanks to a well timed thrust of his weapon when the lioness lunged for his throat. Ashia just sat there on the flattened grass, awestruck, as the boy returned to his feet. After witnessing such and seeing the boy was nearly covered in the animal's blood, caused her to start hyperventilating. As the boy turned to face her, Ashia saw a look of shock on his face. As she tried to figure out what he was looking at, she too started to look around and what she saw shocked her as well. She noticed small sparks surrounding her fingertips while small geographic items, such as rocks, twigs, and clumps of dirt, floated around her.

Before she could freak out, the young boy before her told her to calm down and take a deep breath before she lost the little control she currently had. After doing what he said, the small sparks disappeared and the floating items that were circling her dropped to the ground. Once she was in a much calmer state, the boy explained that she had somehow triggered her hidden abilities. Electrokinesis and Telekinesis is what he referred to them as. After snapping herself out of her trance-like state, Ashia noticed that the boy was in fact Elijah, but younger. Younger than when she saw him in the dream she had not long ago.

But when she asked him for his name, he replied with Darkarai, which meant happiness. Ashia (Erin) could only assume that just like her, he too had a name before the one he was currently using. That had to be it. As she sat there, she watched as Darkarai (Elijah) ripped the remaining strands off his shirt off and used them as makeshift bandages. After Ashia helped him, Darkarai gave her a black stone that was attached to a single black string. He explained that while she wore this item, it would help keep her powers under control until she was able to do so on her own. Before he left, he told her to meet him here tomorrow if she wanted to learn.

The next day, Ashia did just that and met Darkarai at the same spot. He was successfully able to teach her the bare minimum of using both her power of electrokinesis and telekinesis. Since he couldn't use her power for her, it was all he could do. The rest would be up to her. After the lesson, the two just sat in the grass and talked to one another about mundane things. It was mostly one-sided on Ashia's part since Darkarai wasn't much of a talker. But this soon became a daily routine for both Ashia and Darkarai as it went on for months. They would meet up at the exact same time, sometimes at different places, but they would train and talk afterwards. And eventually, Ashia was able to get him to speak a few times.

It looked like things were going well until one fateful day…..

It was like any other afternoon. Ashia and Darkarai were sitting out in the fields, talking like they always did. When out of nowhere, the sound of gunshots mixed with screams of pure terror echoed through the air. Hearing the noises, Ashia feared that they were coming from her village. Forgetting about her friend, she jumped to her feet and rushed back home. Of course, Darkarai tried to stop her, but his calls fell upon deaf ears. When Ashia got back to her village, she found homes burning to the ground as villagers (both young and old) ran blindly through the streets. All they were worrying about was finding a way to escape the disaster. Many of them were either dealing with minor injuries while other had more severe ones.

As she made her way through the burning village, she saw a couple of rebels literally drag an old man from out of his home and put a bullet in his head without a second thought. Turning her head from the scene, she continued moving. She eventually made it back and to her relief, she found her home untouched. With the exception of the broken door, it looked fine. As she entered the settlement, Ashia heard her younger brother crying in one of the back rooms. Rushing straight towards the room, she found her brother lying in a hammock, unharmed.

As soon as he realized that he was in the arms of his older sister, the young boy stopped crying. Ashia was about to make a run for it when the sound of struggling and muffled screaming caught her attention. Quietly looking around, she saw the door to the room she and her older sister shared had been broken into. Peeping through the slightly cracked door, she saw a sight that she would never forget. Ashia's older sister was being violated by a large rebel while the other held her down, attempting to tie a piece of cloth around her mouth. Letting out a full on scream, she alerted the two men of her presence. The one that was holding her sister captive was the first to lunge for her. But the moment he touched her, he found himself falling flat on his back, cringing in pain. Ashia had intentionally shocked the man with a strong electrical current.

The other rebel looked back in shock, giving Ashia's older sister a chance to remove the gag and tell her to run. Just as she turned to do so, the man grabbed his gun and started firing off shots, only to miss the first few. Ashia ran away, not daring to look back, as bullets flew pass and over her head. When she made it outside, she found herself not only running through streets littered with flames, but she had to avoid explosions from left and right. Running straight into the fields, she started calling out to Darkarai. Unfortunately he never answered back. There was no way she could stop and search for him, especially not with a truck load of rebels chasing her and the other villagers who decided to take the same route she was using.

Thanks to the enemy's gunfire, the villagers were being mowed down all around Ashia, but they were missing her and her younger brother completely. Ashia continued to run but stopped when a truck cut her off. The group of men quickly exited the vehicle and stood before her, blocking her way. The leader of the group ordered her to drop the child and come with them. Ashia just shook her head, telling him and the others that she wasn't going to do such a thing. Seeing that the brat wasn't going to comply with his orders, the leader lifted his gun, causing the others to follow suit. Then without hesitation, they all opened fired on Ashia and her brother. Flinching, Ashia closed her eyes, slightly tightening her grip around her brother as she waited for death. But it never came.

Instead, Ashia soon heard cries of pain that were stopped as soon as they started. Carefully looking up, Ashia found the group of rebels lying on the ground, dead. Seeing the carnage before her, Ashia quickly turned on her heels and ran away. She ran for hours, not wanting to stop in fear of another group of rebels appearing to seek vengeance for their fallen brothers. She soon found herself entering a marshy swamp. Nearly running straight into a camp, Ashia changed directions and kept moving until she came up to a strange tree. Across from it stood a small shack. Hearing a group of men heading her way, she ducked into the shack, hoping she would avoid whoever she heard. Inside, she found the shack armed to the teeth with different styles of knives, causing her to ponder if hiding there was such a good idea.

Looking around, she finally decided on taking a black machete that was hanging on one of the walls. With the weapon in hand, she quickly ran over to the door and hid behind it. As the group inched closer to her location, her little brother suddenly began to cry. Using the crook of her arm, she was able to muffle her brother's crying. It proved to be unsuccessful as the rebels had heard the cry long enough to pinpoint where it was coming from. Ashia could hear them just behind the door, but before the door opened, a war cry sounded, followed by the sound of someone unleashing a hailstorm of bullets in the distance.

Forgetting all about the baby's cry, the men headed straight towards the sound of gunfire. Allowing her tensed muscles too relax, Ashia released her hold of her brother and quickly noticed that he wasn't breathing. Panicking, she quickly started to perform CPR but sadly it didn't help. She had inadvertently suffocated her little brother. Pulling her brother's lifeless body towards her, she just sat there as tears began to fall freely from her eyes. She wasn't sure if her older sister was able to escape or not. And because of that, she felt that she had just killed her last surviving relatively. And now, now she was all alone. She just sat there for hours, not moving, not making a sound.

After burying her brother's body at the foot of the strange tree, Ashia grabbed the machete and headed northeast. She was sure that there were still refugee camps somewhere in that direction. As she trekked through multiple swamps, Ashia felt herself being watched from the shadows. Large eyes just stared her down as she moved. She even felt them staring her down as she slept. She felt as if they were watching her every move. It wasn't until she reached a refugee camp that her "watchers" finally showed themselves. Ashia couldn't sleep with the small children and their nonstop crying. Their shrill wails would always remind her of the little boy that was her brother. The following morning, Ashia swore that the watchers were responsible for permanently silencing each child that cried the night before. But the blood on her hands told the people otherwise. After every child in the refugee camp was slaughtered, the camp exiled Ashia to a mysterious military group that came to visit that same day.

There, Ashia met a strange man who was simply known as Vamp. Right then and there, Vamp took her in and back to his camp. That's when he introduced her to three other young girls who were in a similar predicament.

At first, the four girls couldn't communicate with each other since they didn't know each other's language. But after some time, the four of them knew five tongues. With the time they spent together, they would share their own personal stories of suffering and pain with one another. They soon became closer to one another, and eventually, they were looking at each other as sisters. As time passed, Ashia was soon given the codename, Crying Wolf, along with a suit to complete her transformation from a beauty to a beast. The other girls were also given their own codenames and suits as well. And even though she never considered herself human at that point, she decided to forever be saddened by the memory of her deceased brother.

One day, their leader, Ocelot, gave the group the goal to search and kill an individual known to everyone as Solid Snake. He told them that this was their chance to cleanse themselves of their sins with his blood. After going through several trails, Ashia finally got her chance to fight Snake in the frozen tundra that was Shadow Moses. And just like her sisters, she too failed her mission. Because of this, she was saved from the "watchers" that plagued her mind since her brother's death. Her sisters soon found her and they all decided to leave Ocelot's revolution in favor of freedom. Their freedom to be exact.

**ELIJAH (GHOST)**

After knocking Erin into an unconscious state, Mantis stepped away as Raven and Octopus lifted their sister up out of the chair, carefully sitting her down onto a nearby couch. As they did so, Mantis stepped over to Ghost.

"You're next, Ghost." She told him as she stared him down with a piercing glare, as if she was looking into his very soul.

"Not so fast, beast!" Bear barked as he held up his gun, at point blank range, to the side of Mantis's face. Pushing the gun farther, he caused Mantis's head to turn slightly.

As Christian stepped forward, he stood there smiling. The sign of violence was amusing to him. He soon raised his own gun and aimed for Mantis as well. Despite the situation she found herself in, Mantis reached out for Ghost and performed the same action on him as she did to Erin.

**Subconscious…**

As Ghost delved into the darkness that surrounded him, he felt empty and hollow. But he soon found himself relaxing. To him, floating in the center of an abyss was peaceful. It was that way until a flash of light blinded him. His senses dulled but they gradually returned. When they did, he felt rain. Cold droplets were falling upon his bare, damaged skin. The feeling was faint, but he could still feel them. As he stood there, wherever he was, he didn't feel the urge to call himself Elijah. For at the exact moment, his true name was Darkarai. His name was an innuendo in many ways. It was menacing and yet it meant something so cheerful that it was the complete opposite of his life.

In fact, he had never felt happiness since the age of twelve, and that was nearly ten years ago. Now, all he felt in his heart was hate and animosity towards many living individuals on this continent known as Africa. As he stood there in the light rainfall, he suddenly felt a slight twinge as a soft hand landed lightly on his shoulder. Acting on pure instinct alone, he stepped back, retrieving one of his many blades. He swiftly turned to face the person who had the boldness to even attempt to strike him from behind. But who he saw made him freeze. It was a girl…. A girl who he knew. She was one of the new arrivals he had brought back to his campsite, which consisted of escaped slaves and servants. He had taught many of them how to defend themselves and only the strongest how to hunt.

As he continued to stare at the girl, he knew she looked familiar. She looked a lot like Erin, but he knew that that wasn't the girl's name. Sheathing his blade, he turned back towards the object he was paying his respects to. Before him stood a large Tamboti tree. From its branches hung hundreds maybe thousands of dog tags. On the base of the tree, several different styles of survival knives and blades could be seen embedding the large trunk. Over the years, Darkarai had been collecting these small pieces of metal as a form of retribution for the souls that clung to them. Remaining silent, the young girl stepped forward and stood before the small grave.

Darkarai had came here, for one reason or another, and had found a body buried there. The grave was shallow, so he unearthed the body and made the grave deeper. That way an animal wouldn't come up and mess with the body. He was surprised that an animal hadn't gotten to it before he did. And as a marker, he placed several white stones on top of the grave. As he stood there, the girl inched closer to the small grave and eventually dropped to her knees. After a few seconds, he could hear her speaking softly to the grave. It was as if she knew who laid there.

She first greeted the small child before telling him the sins she committed. Closing his eyes, Darkarai quieted the world around him as he focused on the voices of the dead. Moments later, he opened his eyes to see several ghostly figures, a family to be exact, watching over the young woman that sat on her knees. There was a father, who begged her to stop while the mother cried as she placed a hand on her shoulder. There was also an older brother who stood beside her and an older sister who stood there crying along with her mother. It was clear to see that the woman before him had someone looking out for her, even though she wasn't aware of their presences.

As he looked off to the side, he spotted another ghostly figure, one of a woman, who watched from a distance. She didn't look like she was part of the family, but she was watching over her none the less. As he pondered away at his thoughts, he kept trying to figure out the woman's name, however, her name, for some reason, eluded him. But after a few seconds longer, he finally remembered it. Her name was Ashia. As the once light rain slowly started to turn into a downpour, he stepped up towards the hysterical woman and watched her until she finally calmed herself down. As she regained her composure, she stood up and turned towards him.

"Je kumpa mazishi sahihi alistahili? (Did you give him the proper burial he deserved?)" Ashia asked him in a quiet tone.

He nodded yes as he wiped away the trail of tears the lingered down her face. He soon turned and walked into the jungle to find one of his many "pets".

As days turned into weeks and weeks into months, Darkarai noticed that Ashia seemed to have found an interest in him. However, he "sisters" told her not to get romantically involved with a killer like him. At first she listened, but that all changed when he himself became drawn to her. He would always catch himself watching over her. Of course, this angered some of the women who saw him as a god of some sort because he saved their lives. But the anger they had for the two did come close to what Screaming Mantis was feeling. In all honestly, Mantis couldn't stand it and she made sure that Ashia and Darkarai knew exactly how she felt. But unfortunately for Mantis, the two continued to show that they still had feelings for each other, and those feelings only grew over time. That's when Mantis decided to do something about it.

One day, while standing before his sacred Tamboti tree in silence, Rocie, otherwise known as Screaming Mantis, approached him and asked if he would join her and her sisters on their quest for a peaceful life. He refused, explaining to her that he still wanted the Nafsi Giza to pay for their crimes against him. And if that meant they had to pay with their blood, then so be it. Rocie naturally tried to get him to change his mind. That he had to have had enough bloodshed and that he had to draw the line somewhere. She even tried to use his tree to get her point across. She even tried explaining to him that if he wanted to be with her sister, he had to change his ways. She knew that doing what he's been doing for nearly ten years had to be enough. But once again, Darkarai refused, saying that it wasn't enough for him. That's when the South American turned on him.

Darkarai didn't have enough time to use one of his abilities to stop Rocie and soon found himself lying on the ground bleeding. Somehow, Rocie was able to catch him off guard. And before he could do anything, she quickly locked away all of his memories, along with those of her and her three sisters, especially Wolf.

**ROCIE (SCREAMING MANTIS)**

After knocking Ghost out, the South American looked to her left to find the gun still pressed to the side of her head. The ginger G.I. took her by the arm and tossed to the floor. But before the situation could break out into a full on fight, the sound of someone sobbing could be heard within the room. Looking in the general area, everyone found that the sobbing was coming from Crying Wolf. She was crying in her "sleep".

"What did you do to her?" the ginger-haired male asked her in a harsh tone.

"I told you already. I unlocked her memories." Mantis stated coolly. "As we speak, she's probably reliving her entire life, from birth up to now. Each year that passes through her mind will be in full clarity. That also includes the physical and emotional turmoil she had to endure. And seeing that she's sobbing right now, I would say she must be at that time of her life when she lost her younger brother."

"Heh, then it's only a matter of time before Ghost wakes up. Between him and Wolf, the idiot doesn't have much to remember." Laughing Octopus explained in an amused tone.

"You idiot! Can't you be serious for once?!" Raging Raven growled as she moved closer to Mantis, standing before her in a protective manner.

"Exactly, what's about to happen when he wakes up?" Solid Snake asked as he glanced over at Ghost with a suspicious look.

Before anyone could answer the veteran mercenary's question, the air around them started to feel as if a furnace was sitting in the middle of the room. In an instant, everyone looked over to Ghost, who was currently fighting against his restraints. The ginger-haired G.I. and the blonde-haired teenager quickly drew their respective firearms and aimed them straight at Ghost. Breaking his restraints, Ghost dropped to his feet. The African descendant grabbed a hold of both the USP .45 and the revolver and pushed the two to the ground with ease. He then forced the guns to discharge before ripping them out of their hands. As soon as he had their weapons, he pistol whipped the two hard in their faces.

Both males were caught off guard as Ghost elbowed the blonde in the side of his face. He then grabbed the ginger by the neck and slammed his head into the pull-up bar. After stepping away from the melted metal that once kept his legs locked in place, the enraged African directed his attention onto Mantis and proceeded to approach her. With the look of murder in his eyes, Snake fired off a few tranquilizer rounds. But instead of hitting their mark, they somehow stopped in midair and just fell to the floor. Just then, another teenage boy jumped out of the shadows. He stood before Ghost, armed with Akimbo handguns.

"Flame! Don't get near him!" Solid Snake warned, but it was too late for the fighter to react.

Ghost stopped the guns by grabbing a hold of them and pulling them skyward. Ghost looked deeply into terror filled eyes before the male dropped the guns entirely. The guns' structure soon became melted plastic and stinging hot metal before Ghost dropped them to the ground. Quickly grabbing the fighter up by the chest, Ghost slammed him into the coffee table, smashing the furniture into pieces. With that, another blonde fighter lunge forward and caught Ghost, placing him into a chokehold. Ghost just pulled his hands back and clamped them around the fighter's head. Small kindles flared, causing the blonde to back away as they held their head in pain.

Snake had caught up to his side and held out the skinny gun, aiming the weapon at point blank range. Ghost jus shifted his head to the side a little and ended up knocking the side of his head right into the older man. Snake recovered quickly but soon found himself being thrown in the same direction as the second blonde who was thrown over Ghost's shoulder. Turning back towards Screaming Mantis, Ghost stormed over to her. As he did, the man who crashed into the coffee table grabbed his weapon and started firing. At least three shots struck Ghost, but the remaining shots just fell to the floor. It seemed that gunshots weren't going to stop him.

Both Raven and Octopus stepped forward to stop Ghost, but he easily swatted them away like gnats. As soon as he reached Mantis, he caught her by the collar of her shirt and threw her against the concrete wall, pinning her there. Mantis drew a knife out of reflex, but Ghost was able to slam the hilt of the blade right into her face, dazing her. After snatching the large blade out of Mantis's grasp, Ghost brought the blade up and held it up to her throat.

"Kutosha ya michezo hii. Muda kwa ajili ya wewe kufa. (Enough of these games. Time for you to die.)" Ghost growled into her face as he pulled the blade back.

Closing her eyes, Mantis waited for Ghost to slash her throat, killing her in an instant. However, it never came. With caution, Mantis opened her eyes to find Ghost struggling to pull the blade forward. It looked at if he couldn't pull it off. But when she glanced over at his arm, she found his blood vessels pulsating as if he was really trying to finish her off. It actually looked as if something was holding him back.

"I desturi basi wewe. (I won't let you)" stated a calm, goddess-like voice.

Looking over Ghost's shoulder, Mantis spotted Wolf, wide awake, as she stood there with her hand outstretched towards her and Ghost. With a slight movement from her eyes, the enraged teenager dropped the knife as he released his hold of Mantis. He was then lifted up off the ground and placed gently on the nearby couch. As soon as Ghost touched the couch, it immediately started to burn, indicating that he was beyond pissed off at the moment.

"Roho, najua wewe ni pissed, lakini unaweza to kushikia yangu nje? (Ghost, I know you're pissed, but can you just hear me out?)" Wolf asked him.

To answer her question, Ghost calmed himself down, dowsing out the flames. Once she was sure that Ghost had calmed himself down, Wolf explained to him that Mantis wasn't trying to kill him. The truth was that she didn't want any loose ends that could result in her becoming a mercenary again. Wolf knew how far Mantis was willing to go in order to make a peaceful life. She even showed him her own mark of being "betrayed" by her sister. He was a little surprised to see that she had a bullet wound next to her heart.

Although he had two, it made no difference because they both went through similar experiences of almost dying from a bullet to the heart. And not only that, but she had her memories locked away just as he did, by the same individual no less. They were both left there to pick of whatever pieces were left. With that, Ghost finally calmed down and stopped trying to kill off the South American. But he made sure she knew that he didn't trust her and was never going to. As Ghost and Wolf continued to stare down Mantis, Raven and Octopus, Snake and his team were picking themselves up. Noticing the group, Wolf looked over to who she assumed was the leader.

"So Snake, mind telling us the real reason why you want Ghost to join your little group there?" Wolf asked in a calm yet stern tone.

"I'll explain everything." A new voice answered.

The lights were suddenly flipped on, causing everyone turned to see a man standing beside the wall with his finger still near the switch. The male soon revealed himself to be some kind of scientist named Otacon. As he approached the three groups, he stood closer to Snake and his team. Otacon soon explained that the OUTBREAK was an impending apocalypse. Apparently an organization known as Babylon had created and released some kind of "vaccine" to stop and/or cure cancer cells. Although Snake was unsuccessful in stopping the launch of the vaccine, he was able to obtain a sample of the serum months prior to the launch when he stumbled across one of the organization's forgotten facilities. Otacon soon took out a small machine that started illuminating pictures up along the wall before them.

He also explained that after conducting several tests, he had found that the vaccine infected the body instead of doing what was assumed it was created for. And as the infection continued to spread, it'll turn the blood supply black and cause the individual to fall into a comatose state for several months. Soon after, the body would start showing symptoms of a rash. Otacon explained that the rash would look more like the Shingles virus. Then once that occurs, the body would start shutting down as it sends its host into a series of seizures.

As Otacon continued to explain the situation, Wolf couldn't help to glance over at Ghost to see how he was reacting to the news. But as always, he held an unreadable look. One that was always present on his face. She just turned her attention back onto the scientist as he continued his explanation.

Otacon finished by telling them that once the heart stopped completely, the host would be dead for a minimum of ten minutes before it "came back to life". By that time, the person would no longer be living and was no longer considered to be human. He also added that the only way to eliminate such a target was a single gunshot to the head, which said that the virus was controlling the body through the brain. The last bit of information he added was that the living dead that they were going to be dealing with were nothing like those seen in movies or television shows.

Otacon was sure that Babylon's main objective is to use the disease in order to eliminate the entire human race. And it didn't make the situation any better knowing that the organization would be using Gekko and other machines to make the elimination process move faster. After the explanation was done and over with, Snake soon turned towards Ghost and asked him one final time if he would join the team and help them stop this outbreak. This time around, Ghost reluctantly agreed.

With that, Snake placed Ghost and Flame on a team together while the B&amp;B Corps made another. Flame was a tanned individual with green eyes, broad shoulders, and a roguish look that stood at about five feet eight inches tall. When Ghost glanced over to look at Flame, he found them giving him a dark look. After a minute, he soon apologized to Flame, as well as Raven and Octopus. But it ended there. Everyone, with the exception of Snake and Raiden, just looked at him with either a surprised or confused look. But they just shrugged it off once they realized that what happened would be a onetime deal.

Snake soon added another individual to Ghost's group, a male who went by the name of Spider. Spider was a Russian to the bone and had a passion for the Red Army since he wore their signature facemask. The one he was currently wearing had an autumn forest camo design. And the last member added was none other than Christian. With the assigning of teams finished, the next order of business was assigning firepower to everyone. Before that could begin, Ghost walked over to his couch and pushed the burned couch back. He then grabbed a hold of the carpet and ripped it apart, revealing a latch that was attached to the wooden floor underneath.

Pulling on the latch, Ghost soon revealed a trapdoor that led to an underground cellar. After descending the metal ladder first, everyone soon followed suit. Once inside the room, Ghost flicked on a light, greeting his "teammates" with an arsenal that would make a general turn green with envy. The walls, shelves and tables within the room were covered with weapons of many kinds.

From handguns, SMG's and Assault Rifles, to light machine guns and explosives. Hell, he even had a small drone in the far left corner of the room. As everyone got themselves squared away, Christian just stood there, looking like a kid who got themselves lost in a candy store. Only this candy store contained hardware. Snake commented that they had more than enough firepower while Spider gave his respect to Ghost for having such a wide range of weaponry. After explaining a few other key notes to the platoon, Snake left with Raiden, Bear and Otacon to finish up the remaining preparations that needed to be met.

As Ghost took a couple handguns off the wall, he handed them to Flame, replacements for the ones he had destroyed earlier. He also made a comment that Flame should wear a better garment that would keep her… uhm…. err… assets from getting in the way. Nearly everyone in the room was surprised to find out that Flame was really a girl.

Thank you for reading, please don't forget to post a comment. I don't know what i have to fix or how good it is if my readers don't tell me thank and the next chapter like the last isn't due for a while now.

_Black Pitbull


	8. Chapter VIII

Thanks for reading the last chapter, special thanks to DeadlyShadows-KuroOni for the new Flame character. My offer still stands for those that enjoy my story and you can have your own self made character join in the mix if you like.

**I DO NOT **own the metal gear solid franchise or its original characters, enjoy...

_ Black Pitbull

When the day of the outbreak arrived, all hell broke loose. Many of the major cities in the world blocked themselves off from other cities in an attempt to keep the sickness from spreading into their streets. Unfortunately, their attempt of doing so failed when reports of blackened blood started appearing within their local and main hospitals. Within twenty-four hours, there were nearly five hundred reported cases of people falling victim to the mysterious virus. Many of the casualties consisted of the world's newborns and the elderly, which were the most vulnerable. Before they knew it, the death toll was quickly rising with no sign of stopping whatsoever. Several months into the epidemic, which was known simply as the OUTBREAK to the public, every branch of the Armed Forces of the United States was dispatched to every city, rural town and corner of the United States. And even though the U.S. saw it coming, not even they were ready for what was about to occur.

Thanks to the Armed Forces and the government, food rations and supplies were delivered to those who managed to avoid catching the virus and were living within the quarantine zones the military managed to set up before things went straight to hell. The once highly-populated metropolitans were quickly reduced into nothing more than ghost towns with abandoned buildings and streets that were littered with vehicles and the decaying bodies of the once living-dead. Corner stores with broken out windows stood forgotten, as one-story homes were left in favor for apartment complexes and other larger buildings that had better protection qualities.

Many who were still alive were terrified of what lurked in the shadows and roamed the streets mindlessly just outside their doors. Unfortunately, the cannibalistic living dead weren't the only major threats they had to worry about. In order to fight back this major threat, the military had no other choice but to use drastic measures. The drastic measures were the use of machines called Gekko. In addition to the Gekko, small air drones were also being used.

With the military in complete control and with hundreds of cities and towns swarming with machines, drones and cannibalistic humans, it seemed that there was no sign of hope left…

One year and six months later…

FLAME (NARIA)

"Eighteen months. It's been eighteen months since the shit hit the fucking fan. And ever since day one, things just went downhill from one point to the next." Flame thought privately to herself. "We've been lucky. We were lucky to survive this epidemic; it's as simple as that."

Flame continued to stare down at the streets below, watching the incoming cannibals making their way towards her location. But she didn't have to worry. From the first to the third floors, every door, window and any other small opening was boarded up, keeping those freaks away from her and her teammates. From her small vantage point on the roof, Flame took aim and fired. A single gunshot echoed through the silent wind with a satisfying explosion. The sound was quickly followed by the smooth sound of metal scrapping against metal as she expelled the empty, smoking shell from her gun.

About half a mile down the road, a lone cannibalistic man fell dead to the ground. Blackened blood stained the ground as it exited the lone bullet hole that was man in between the monster's eyes.

"Nice one, Flame." Raging Raven stated quietly as she marveled at the girl's quick work. "If I recall correctly, that would make… 1532." She adds in a slightly impressed tone.

Raging Raven's attitude had no doubt toned down some time after the OUTBREAK struck. The demolitions expert hadn't expected the emotion of guilt to strike her as hard as it did. Having no other choice but to kill innocent individuals that were nothing but human-eating monster really took a toll on her. Standing up, she snatched up her Type 87 Chinese Grenada Launcher and Beretta ARX 160 assault rifle from off the ground.

Ever since Flame and Raven became a team, Flame quickly noticed Raven's attitude change. And even though Raven became the closest thing to a friend Flame has ever had, she wasn't sure how she could help her adjust to their new life of surviving the OUTBREAK. Truth be told, Flame was having a difficult time adjusting to the new life she found herself in.

"At this point, the number of cannibals I kill doesn't even matter." Flame told her. "Right now, all I care about is moving to a new location. We haven't received any new orders from MSF and I'm getting fed up with sitting here like sitting ducks, waiting for survivors we might not even find." She growled as her Saudi Arabian accent voice picked up.

"Well, there's nothing we can do about it." Raven replied back. "We may know how to survive, but out there, out there is a different story. None of us know how to survive an epidemic like this, which means there's a slim chance that none of us will survive. So it would be best to stay put." She added. "Now let's forget about that for now. It's finally time for us to leave our post." She stated as she looked at the dirty digital watch that was around her wrist.

The two women have been stationed on the roof, scouting out and eliminating the infected, since 0200 hours. It was currently 1200. They have been on a solid ten-hour shift that didn't have an ounce of excitement.

Taking one last glance at the all-too-familiar landscape before her, Flame lifted her head from the scope, looking at the environment with only her normal vision. They were still based at Ghost's home. The once green lawn and neatly paved roads no longer looked the way they did nearly two years ago. The streets were stained with dirt and dried blackened blood and were littered with the dead bodies that had succumbed to the virus and were taken down. Many of the bodies were scorched beyond recognition while others were littered with bullet holes. And every now and then, severed limbs and others body parts were spotted around the area.

A rampart had been built around the homestead as well as a shallow moat, which was filled with gasoline, to help them have some sort of defense besides their guns. Gathering up her own weapons, Flame followed Raven back into the house. Not only has the outside changed drastically, but as did the inside of the structure. The carpeted floor was tarnished in different spot by black blood, broken glass laid underneath open windows, countless of empty shell casings littered the floors in nearly every room, and the walls themselves were covered in cracks and bullet holes. One of the walls had a large gaping hole that look as if a fireball had gone through it. There was no question as to who was responsible for that.

On the remaining sectional couch that sat in the room laid Buddy, Ghost's dog, who definitely grew in such a short amount of time. The once small dog looked as if he could literally take on an entire pack of wolves on his own and win that fight. Everyone was just either sitting around readying their weapons or preparing to leave to stand on their assigned posts.

Crying Wolf on the other hand was currently inside the broken area of the kitchen cooking bear meat she and Octopus managed to hunt down and kill. Even with the limited amount of supplies at her disposal, the African was able to cook the meat thoroughly with relative ease. Of course everyone was able to cook their own meal; however, Wolf took it upon herself to cook for everyone.

Spider was over inside the garage, tinkering with a military drone, as he smoked a cigarette to help calm his nerves. Spider, whose real name was Borya Demyan, had a handsome angular face with grey eyes, thin lips and a buzz cut. Secretly, Flame liked the Russian, however, much like Ghost; he wasn't one who was very open with his emotions.

Screaming Mantis was posted by the large hole in the wall and was joined by the other Russian that was a part of the team. Evgeni Fedor, mainly known as Mongoose, was a smart tactical man and was the only one who could make Mantis blush with his charisma, which was no easy feat.

Christian was leaning up against the eastern wall as he held a far off look in his blank green eyes. Laughing Octopus was sitting beside him with her head lying on his shoulder. The two had become a couple about a year ago, but their relationship became strained a few months ago when the young male came back one day covered in blackened blood. The sight of seeing Christian the way he was visibly shaken Octopus. The story on that…. was incredibly vague to everyone with the exception of Ghost, who managed to get information out of the two about the situation.

Ever since the incident, Christian had lost a huge chunk of his childlike personality, which was replaced by a much more stern, warlike personality. Octopus tries her best to get him to let her back in and hopefully get him back to his more cheerful self again. Unfortunately, she's haven't had such luck in completing such a task.

Meanwhile, Ghost was seated at a wooden table, sharpening his arsenal of blades he always carried on his person. To put it bluntly, the African was a walking butcher with a touch of juggernaut. Sitting her sniper rifle against the edge of the table, Flame pulled out one of the rickety chairs and took a seat. Raven did the same and laid her elbows on the dirty, lightly scratched surface.

"Did you two see anything out there?" Ghost asked as he kept his eyes on his machete as he continued to clean it.

"Nothing much, boss…" Flame grunted as she leaned back dangerously in her seat. "Not a damn thing."

With a shrill clang of metal, Wolf called out to the others, alerting them that the rations were done. Spider grunted as he continued his tinkering. Christian was still lost in the dark recesses of his mind. So Octopus stood up slowly to retrieve hers and her blond counterpart's food, knowing full well that Christian wouldn't eat anything at all if she didn't bring him something. Mantis left her post to get her and her partners meal for the time being, knowing Mongoose would do the same next time around.

Buddy got up from his place on the couch and prowled towards the kitchen, hoping he would get his share as well. As soon as he entered the kitchen, Wolf placed a large bowl of raw meat on the floor for the animal. As the food was passed around, they all came to a well deserved silence.

Each and every one of them was wearing a bluish grey exo-skeleton with thick black stripes across the knees and forearms that were edged with a gold stripe. The suit was made out of hard, breathable fabric that seemed to be molded to fit their bodies perfectly. It had suspender like straps, looping over their shoulders that connected across the chest and waist. The waist strap also doubled as a way to hold their utility pouches. A side arm holster was also strapped to their legs on the side of their dominate hand. But in Flame's case, she had one on each leg.

Ghost on the other hand had extra holsters to house his collection of knives. He made this work by equipping a stylish holster that was made for carrying them all together. Their knees and elbows were padded, and the boots of the suit were light weight but were tough enough to protect them from the harsh elements. The long sleeves attached themselves to thin but strong hand gloves. As for Spider and Mongoose, they had an added metal plated face mask.

On each of their left shoulders, an insignia of a white broken skull that was inside a split background of black and yellow was bared. Old Snake pointed out that by going in with mixed matched fatigues wasn't a good idea and would only cause trouble. Especially if some of the Coast Guard soldiers were still roaming about.

During the meal Ghost reached up to his ear and paused for a moment.

"Ghost, speak…" Ghost stated in a low but stern tone. This was always his way of acknowledging whoever spoke on the other end of the codex, nothing more nothing less. Another pregnant pause came from the African. "When does it touch down?" Ghost asked as he ripped off a chunk of meat, throwing it into his mouth.

Taking his hand away from his ear, Ghost turned his head slightly to look towards his platoon in an appraising manner.

"Oct, get Chris' ass off the floor! We're moving out!" Ghost quickly ordered as he started to down his meal in a hurry. "I just received word that Gekko are heading straight to our location and will be here within the hour." He added as he started sheathing his blades into their holders. Once the task was completed, he hefted his AK-74 assault rifle. The gun looked old and worn out, but it worked and that was all that mattered.

Flame only knew that the rifle Ghost was grasping was the very same rifle that had taken away Ghosts' family. They were rushing now, going up and down the ladder of the arsenal room in order to get ready for the Gekko that were heading their way. Their transport wasn't going to get to them for at least another half an hour, and they could thank the drones that were ruling the skies around them. The bird had to slip its way through to them and make sure they weren't detected.

After everyone gathered up inside the main area, each of them turned off the safety to their weapons and got ready for a war. Spider donned a FN FNC assault rifle and grabbed the control pad for their own out dated ground drone as he fixed his mask back onto his face.

Mongoose was back to manning the hole in the wall with Mantis next to him. After a few explicit words of choice from Ghost, Christian finally moved and grabbed a hold of an EM-2 rifle and a P90. He strapped the P90 to his back as his girlfriend armed herself with an M-16A1. Flame herself took an akimbo CZ Scorpion EVO 3 SMG's and Wolf grabbed, surprisingly, an MK46 light machinegun and had no trouble hefting it either.

"Gekko approaching! Approximately ten meters out!" Mongoose barked out.

"Massive hordes of Dwarf Gekko are heading our way as well." Mantis added on in a more calm tone rather than using the same tone as Mongoose.

Quickly setting down his gun, Ghost lifted the dog off the ground and pushed the poor animal into a cage before taking it up the ladder somehow. The rest of the team quickly followed him and prepared themselves for the impending threat that was slowing closing in on them.

"Spi...I want that drone meeting that horde of Gekko in the middle. Take out as many Dwarfs as you can..." Ghost ordered harshly as he stared at the slow approaching wake of machines.

With that order, the Russian pulled out the control pad and powered it on. Tapping away at the controls, the small motor sounded and the treads promptly started moving. The little drone moved out the hole in the wall and followed its electronic commands. With a few quick swipes from Spider, the robot fired off grenades and let out a stream of bullets that rained down upon a patch of machines.

With a few more moves of the hand, the drone swerved skillfully as it dodged the foot of a Gekko. After avoiding a near collision with the Gekko's foot, the small machine immediately started shooting out more grenades. Suddenly a trio of Gekko used a tether line to trap the small robot. Spider furiously tapped and swiped at the control, forcing the little machine to fire off bullets and grenades at random like a trapped animal. The Gekko did receive a single scratch as the lead continued to bounce off them. One managed to lift a heavy foot and crushed their obsolete brother into a broken heap.

"блин!" the Russian growled.

"It's fine Spider. Alyona did her best out there and held her own for a while..." Ghost sympathized for the mechanic as he did make an outdated robot match a Gekko team, which was not an easy feat to accomplish. But thanks to the mechanic, he caused the robotic monsters to regroup and fall back into formation.

Noticing the machines beginning to advance once more, Ghost thrusts out a palm towards the shallow moat, causing the liquid to ignite.

"Stand fast and OPEN FIRE" the African male barked as he rained hell on a patch of dwarfs as the hole in the wall burst with bullets from Mantis and Mongoose.

The members of the platoon open fired without mercy, pushing back the dwarfs that were climbing their way up the steep rampart hills. After running dry on a clip, Ghost resorted to using his fire abilities, which forced a Gekko that was getting to close to implode. The burning machine fell back and rolled loudly onto the bottom of the homestead before exploding into a blazing heap. The same happened to another until he reloaded and fired off bullets again.

Raven thoughtfully fired grenades, causing them to land right at the feet of Gekko. The tactic was successful and was able to eliminate at least three at a time. Christian and Octopus covered each other, switching out as one fired while the other took a short break. Spider was yelling Russian curses in the name of his lost little "girl" Alyona as he fired randomly. All the while, Wolf was firing off her "light" machinegun, acting like Rambo. Needless to say, the tactics were undoubtedly beating back the clumps of dwarf with ease. As they continued to fire, the Beauty found herself turning towards the sky.

"DRONES!" Wolf sounded off as she turned her gun towards the cloudy sky, aiming her bullets straight at the forthcoming drones.

"блин... these bad little toys were sent here for a reason. It's the only plausible explanation as to why so many are heading right for us" Spider growled, his accent showing greatly in his speech.

Flame ignored her crush for the moment in favor of annihilating the machines that were determined to overrun them. To the side, Wolf lifted her hands to the sky and pulled them together. The action caused a whole flank of drones to smash into each other, forming a clump of metal in the process. Wolf then flung the clump of metal HARD into a Gekko. The Monster's head acquired a crippling dent before crumpling to the ground.

It was in that moment that Flame feared Wolf just as much as she did Ghost. To witness how much damage she could easily create caused a shiver to run down her spine.

As bullets continued to fly from both sides of the battlefield, plenty of Gekko, Dwarfs and Drones were either getting crushed, ripped to pieces or exploding into burning heaps. Before long, an Osprey was spotted coming from the Northwest. The plane/helicopter hybrid hovered next to the roof with its bay doors wide open. Calling for Mantis and Mongoose, the platoon quickly started hopping onto bird.

Ghost was the last to hop onto the carrier after making sure everyone else got on safely. Grabbing the dog cage, the African tossed it on board and quickly got on himself as the Osprey raised itself to take off. However, the machines weren't going to let them get away so easily. A couple Gekko teamed up and tethered the plane's wings as Dwarfs moved forward to invade the bay area.

"WOLF!" Ghost barked at the woman.

Taking the hint and without stating a single word, Wolf acted quickly, and with an invisible force, she pushed back all the dwarfs in a fluid motion, clearing the bay but still leaving the Gekko. Thrusting his hands and then clinching them together, the heads of the duo machines imploded, causing the lines to release the plane.

Seeing this, the other machines tried shooting them out the sky collectively. But before any of the bullets could reach them, they struck an invisible barrier instead. Looking to his right, Ghost found Wolf standing beside him with a single hand held out before her. With an opening made, they took off as the door closed and shrouding them into complete darkness. They were in darkness for a few seconds until a few lights turned on. Finally out of danger, the platoon could finally relax.

"I don't know what you did back there, but we're in the clear for now guys. So just sit back and we'll get to the LZ. ETA in 48 hours..." the pilot told them all as he swerved the carrier slightly.

As he crashed into a seat, Ghost lifted his hand to his ear, "We Made it Snake...So what now" Ghost stated to their leader and the commander over all the teams.

Silence engulfed the air as the aged soldier spoke to him.

"Fine... I'll do it" Ghost said in a low growl as he said some sort of curse in Swahili.

"From the sound of your tone, whatever he told you doesn't sound good." Wolf stated in a quiet yet stern tone.

Taking his hand away from his ear, Ghost fixed a few kinks in his gun and pulled out his sharpening granite and started back onto his collection of knives.

"Where are we going Ghost?" Christian was the one to break the crushing silence as he showed some signs of still fighting his inner demons.

"An oil plant outside of New York. Some place called the Big Shell." Ghost answered nonchalantly as if it was unimportant.

In fact it was important, since two members of their team actually knew of the location.

"The Big Shell... the same place where the Sons of Liberty incident and Tanker accident took place?!" Mongoose exclaimed in a way he sounded like he...feared the place.

"Yeah. What about it Goose?" Ghost asked as he went through more of his knives.

"Well, it's just a rumor, but I heard someone state that that entire place is said to be filled with the souls of soldiers still following their leader even in death. Any soldier foolish enough to go there will soon find themselves within their ranks too" Mongoose explained.

"...Souls you say..." Ghost questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Great. He's got that look in his eye." Wolf stated under her breath as she let out a low, soft sigh.

Thank you Kazumi silverwolf for beta reading and tweeking my story when it needed it and I honored to have you help me so far.


	9. Chapter IX

good day to all my precious readers, and while you may be the recognition I want. you people wound by not being a critic and telling me what you find interesting or not. Not even a "your writing seems a little too dark..." which I totally admit if you were to read the following chapter.

**for those of you who do not like the thought of blood or do not like the prospect of having nightmares and/or the faint of heart please either.**

_A. effectively go to another story as this chapter holds a lot of the blood and gore I have promised to the readers of my story._

_B. delete my story from your history, turn off your computer and step away, IMMEDIATLLY._

Enjoy...Black Pitbull

It's been forty-six hours since Ghost and his team took off from their former base. As they traveled through the air, the unit managed to get some sleep, but only four to six hours at the most. Because of the rigorous training they were put through a year before the outbreak, it not only changed them physically and mentally, but the training also tuned their internal clocks to the point where they would always be alert, even during the small amount of hours they slept. They no longer had the luxury of sleeping long hours into the day like they use to, for their bodies would instantly wake them up. As they team continued heading towards their next destination, Ghost was looking towards his crew as he silently contemplated the information Mongoose and Spider had provided him about their destination in question: The Big Shell. Despite its name, the Big Shell was known as a large beehive structure with ten different buildings connected by lone bridges. Each building was labeled by a letter strut and all were connected to a core, which stood tall thanks to four main supports.

Ghost was told that the old, abandoned oil decontamination base was used for a failed terrorist attack that was executed by a group that called themselves the "Sons of Liberty", which was lead by the biological younger brother of Old Snake. The long forgotten younger brother called himself Solidus Snake, which Ghost thought was strange at first, but simply shrugged it off as the spirits around him continued to provide more information to him. When Ghost set his sights onto Christian, he noticed a few spirits gathered around the young man. Four of them were male while the fifth was female. Christian was just sitting there, completely unaware of this.

One of the men was constantly wearing a storm cloak and spoke in cryptic messages. Another male, a younger looking one with sharp features, stood beside Christian but didn't utter much. However, Ghost was positive that the spirit had been through a lot when he was alive. The female was a soft spoken spirit and wore a kind smile on her face. Her soul had very dark splotches, signaling that she had been a very….. good soldier and did her job well. And for some odd reason, the woman looked familiar to Ghost, but he simply ignored the feeling, deciding that it could have just been his imagination.

The last two male, unlike the other spirits, seemed to be attached to one another somehow. The astral being would somehow flip like a coin; allow one of the two personalities to take control before the other does so. One side was older than the other and seemed to be the one with the most control. The only one out of Christian's spiritual detail was the "coin" spirit.

Not only did Christian have spirits around him, but Mongoose had a few attached to him as well. A total of three spirits were surrounding him. Two of them were more likely his parents while the third was a Russian soldier that was dressed in dark brown forest camo-gear. The solider told Ghost what he knew of the terrorist plot since he had been one of the "Sons" during his lifetime. He sadly met his end when he took a bullet to the head when he had spotted a blonde man in the middle of the hall that was dressed in a grey skin-tight suit.

Flame had a few spirits around her too. One was a father, the second was an aged man dressed in a suit of leaves, and the third was a sharply calm woman. Unfortunately, none of the three spirits could tell Ghost anything like the others could.

Spider had five, and all of them, in some way, were a part of the military. Three were male and two were female. Only the oldest of the group could provide Ghost of information on Big Shell. But the information wasn't anything new. Mantis's and Octopus' spirits knew next to nothing about Big Shell, but the spirit lingering around Raven, who was fairly large, told Ghost about C4 bombs being armed within each of the struts since he was the one responsible for putting them there.

And as for Wolf's spirits, they didn't have anything to add. That was, until the mysterious woman, who always stood apart from the others, joined in. Ghost could tell that the woman was strong and she told him that her name was Fortune and that she was a bringer of… luck. From there, she explained to him about the Sons of Liberty's plot and even divulged a submarine like fortress called Arsenal Gear that was possibly under the structure. It was hidden as a way to hide an ugly truth about America. The hundreds of Rays that were still in its confines, all deactivated and were collecting dust.

Ghost remembered seeing a Ray once. It was nothing more than a monstrosity and a bringer of destruction. He even contemplated on the idea of releasing one of them on Nafsi Giza, and on a certain insect bitch he despised (i.e. Screaming Mantis). However, Ghost thought better of the idea. Of course he still wanted retribution for what the woman did to him, but he wanted to make her pay with his own two hands and not allow some damn machine to do so. And even though the bitch betrayed him, he begrudgingly saw the logic in her action, but he would never let her know that.

They've been a team together for over and year and still he didn't trust her. How could he? The South American shot him and nearly killed him in the process. The only reason he hadn't burned her alive, put a bullet through her skull, or shove a collection of knives through her body was because he couldn't fight the power of telekinesis whatsoever. His own force fields could hold back the invisible force and keep it from paralyzing him, but in order for him to do so; he would have to engulf himself within one. And that in itself hindered his own mobility, which annoyed him immensely since he was known as a mass murdering, unstoppable savage in Africa.

Besides, fire wasn't going to help him anyway. The main reason was the fact that he didn't want to hurt the one woman that could pull him out of the dark hole that controlled him for most of his life. So it's also because of that fact that the conniving bitch (Screaming Mantis) leaves to see another day. And hopefully with this time, she finds some way to earn his trust back. And at the moment, that seemed highly unlikely to happen. But if it were to happen, it would most likely take years in order to complete such a task. If he were to forgive her so quickly, that would just make him look like the biggest hypocrite in the world.

While Ghost found himself lost within his own thoughts, his team continued to get as much sleep as they possibly can. Mostly like getting in hours that seemed long forgotten. While some slept in pairs, depending on the person they trusted most, others slept alone. The majority of the females on the team were pretty close; however, many didn't see Flame as a sister just yet. Raven seemed to have a closer bond to Flame than the others.

Since Ghost was known not to play well with others, mainly those of the male gender, the guys of the group chose to keep their distance. And it really didn't help the situation when the B&amp;B sisters decided to share a little story with the others. One that explained how Ghost castrated a young male, who was given permission to stay, who thought he could force his ministrations on one of the younger and less trained females of their former group. The reactions the girls received from the male members of the group nearly caused them all to burst out into a fit of laughter. Even Ghost nearly found himself laughing. Almost. Christian paled. Spider took a glance over at his leader and moved to stand a good five yards away from him. And as for Mongoose, he said replied back in his native tongue, which Christian translated. Christian explained that Mongoose told Ghost that "May God have mercy on the poor souls who tries to date any daughters you may have…" The women just had a good laugh after hearing Mongoose's statement.

All in all, even though Ghost was sort of a lone wolf, Christian did attempt to make an effort of getting to know Ghost/Darkarai. Without provoking him in some kind of way of course. Sadly, Christian was borderline childish the entire time and was somehow able to drag Mongoose into the fray. And if that wasn't enough, he even got Spider to forget about keeping his mental rule of staying far away from a person who was capable of neutering a grown man without hesitation. And before long, just like the B&amp;B, the boys were close as brothers, even though they still held some secrets from one another. So their bond wasn't as close as the B&amp;Bs.

A few hours later…..

"Listen up, everyone. We've finally made it to New York." The pilot announced, waking up the remaining members were haven't awoke from their slumber. "If you want to take a glance, I'll open the bay doors for a minute."

"Let's see it, Ghost." Christian said in a low tone that had a slight longing lacing within it. "I haven't seen or heard much of what's happened to my favorite place." He added.

Ghost remember Christian telling him stories of his time in the large city, especially when he was living there at the time with his adoptive brothers and parents.

"Fine." Ghost told him. "Open the bay doors!" he yelled to the man that was controlling the large metal bird.

With that, a yellow light began flashing as the bay doors slowly opened, allowing low sunlight to enter the once dark compartment.

"Huh? What's going on?" Ghost asked quietly. "Raven, what time do you have?"

"It's a little past one." She answered. "Why do you ask?"

"What? If that's true, then there should be more sunlight out." Ghost thought as he looked back outside. Upon further observation, Ghost soon realized that the sky was filled with thick, dark smoke.

This smoke could only be seen when there was still a heavy fire burning. Looking down upon the city, Ghost and Christian saw that it looked like a living hell down below. The city was literally burning to the ground as several fires continued to burn, neither looking to be going out any time soon.

Looking out towards the ocean, the two men spotted Lady Liberty lying in the water in a broken heap. Her face, as well as the rest of her body, was covered in a heavy coating of soot, and the sight of the symbol of American Pride cry. Lady Liberty was crying in despair for her dying nation and its inhabitants, if there was any left. Her world, her home, was falling apart and all she could do was lay there and watch the scene play before her very eyes. This scene not only devastated the members of the small unit, but it made a bigger impact on the blonde.

Ghost remember the blonde's stories about his parents. He didn't have many tales about his father, who he figured was bipolar in some way, when it came to the things Christian told him he did. However, his mother was a different story. It was clear to see that she had a very special place within Christian's heart. Ghost wasn't speaking of Jack (Raiden) and his wife Rosemary. No. He was referring to Christian's biological parents.

Christian's mother was a kind soul and a polar opposite to his father. How they ever came together was an enigma in itself even to the spirit. His mother wasn't a war bond soldier, but she was strong and selfless and despite his father's harsh training. The woman instilled some words, the blonde had been neglecting for awhile, which was to never let war change who he was as a person. Those were the last words she ever spoke to him before putting a bullet in her own head after finding out what her husband was going to do to him if the man ever succeed in his world domination attempt. The man was planning on shaping his son into nothing more but a harbinger of destruction by turning him into a Cyborg, a mindless puppet.

The reason the blonde was crying over the broken statue was because Christian had said that the statue was the spitting image of his mother and he thought of the monument as a shining tribute to her and the kind spirit she was. To see it utterly broken was the last and final straw that caused his already fragile mind to break. Within moments, he started to sob openly as he fell down to his knees. This caused the other members, who had fallen back to sleep, to wake up.

They were all in a state ready for battle, but their states quickly changed when all they saw was the burning city below. Octopus shed her own tears as she saw what her beloved was crying over too. It tore her to pieces seeing her boyfriend in such a state of mind. Remaining silent, Ghost simply placed a hand on the blonde's shoulder as he stated in a calm but firm voice:

"Use it…"

No response.

"Use…It…" Ghost stated once more.

Again, no response. The blonde simply sat there as he shed more tears of pain.

"USE IT!" Ghost barked at his brother in arms. He knew Christian had his own powers, but the man had yet to accept them. Not yet anyway.

Christian stared blankly at the smoke filled sky for a moment and let forth his wail of pain and despair. The force of the sound sent the dog into a whining mess and caused the team to fully feel his emotional pain.

**DMITRII (CHRISTIAN)**

Christian cried out in pure pain, ripping an even bigger whole into his broken heart. He had lost her completely now. His mother was completely gone from his world now. The blonde had nothing now.

First it was the incident a few months ago where he thought his mother was still alive. He thought he had seen her that day. However, the woman who had the uncanny resemblance to his mother was nothing more than a look alive. And to make things worse, she was a cannibal who was attacking his Ivana (Octopus).

At the time, Christian was out of bullets and Ivana was pinned down by the woman as she held her down and was about gnaw on the B&amp;B's face like a late night snack. But before the cannibal could get the chance to do so, Christian drew the large knife Ghost gave him and kicked the woman away. She scrambled as Christian pinned her down as he began to stab her continuously in the face and chest.

Every movement he made warped his mind, making him think he was stabbing the image of his mother, distorting her face in a horrified look of pain until he could finally here Ivana saying his name and pulling him away from the dead body. Christian's face, hair and suit was dripping with the blackened blood. Since then the blonde swore every time he looked in the mirror, he saw himself covered in the black liquid all over again. The first time this happened, Ghost had to literally drag him out of a two hour shower, stark naked, to slap him hard across the face in order to finally bring his mind back into reality.

Once that was over and done with, Ghost told him to anchor himself to something, anything, or else he wouldn't survive very long. At that, he had kept himself alive by remembering the statue of liberty and a riddle his mother told him when he was younger. And even to this day, he has never figure that riddle out. "Two words, my answer is only two words. To keep me, you must give me." it was simple play of words, but the answer always eluded him.

But now, none of that mattered. And now that the Statue of Liberty had fallen, his anchor was cut from him. He found himself lingering within a black pit, an abyss that was inside his own soul. That's when the blonde heard them, the madness of sadness. Hundreds, no thousands sympathizing with him for but a moment until they overwhelmed him. Christian slammed his gloved hands to his ears trying to block them out, to shut them out. But the spirits didn't stop for they wanted to be heard.

Visions of the thousands of soldiers surrounded him, sharing their pain with him and trying to force him to hear them all at once. They wanted him to feel their sorrow and flood him with it.

"Dmitrii... my grandchild, they all know you and you must accept them. Accept them and their pain, their sorrow..." A single cloaked man said over their maddening voice. "I was their last medium; you have to become their next. Very few can hear them and fewer ever try to understand them"

The cloaked man shadowed him, his black cloaked fluttering in the wind as his eyes shown through his cracked glasses.

"Don't worry Dmi, I'll teach you how to silence them after you accept this." Ghost assured him.

Christian did nothing but nod and with that, the voices died down to slight whispers as the world came back to him. As he regained his composure, he noticed someone holding onto him from the side while a hand rested gently atop of his shoulder. The hand belonged to Ghost who was giving him a firm look. The person holding him was none other than Ivana.

"You'll teach me right..." Christian asked as he looked back at the African man, who nodded in reply as he took back his hand.

"Close the doors we've seen enough!" Ghost yelled over the wind. And on his order, the bay doors rose slowly and clanged shut.

After settling back into his seat, Ghost told Christian some self calming techniques and said that Christian had to keep his emotions from ruling him unless he wanted to be hit by the "tsunami". The "Tsunami" would be the voices overloading him and his mind. Mantis would pitch her own tips too as the same thing was useful for her torture screams.

"ETA twenty minutes, Ghost" the pilot spoke to them through the intercom again.

At that Christian had a cold sweat and the low toned voices in his ear rose slightly. It forced him to implement his calming techniques to bring them back to whispers.

"You heard them too. But you didn't attempt to try to listen to them though..." Ghost said nonchalantly as he stood up.

"Listen to what?" Mongoose asked confused as to the situation that three of their members were in; well two since torture screams didn't count as spirits talking at all.

"Christian heard the voices of the lost in this area. but didn't find it very forth coming to listen to what they have to say. Besides, you shouldn't assume that all of them are trying to share their pain with you." Ghost stated as he sat back and began fiddling with his AK-47."They are warning us. Our rescue mission is gonna have some Cannies in our way."

"Tango's on the landing pad..." the pilot said without any emotion in his voice.

Taking the cue, Ghost ordered the bay doors to be lowered and then ordered Flame to aim and fire when ready. The Osprey hovered as the doors opened and six Cannibalistic technicians shambled around. Six sniper rounds were fired without hesitation and the bullets hit their marks.

All six targets were taken down in under thirty seconds by Flame. Accuracy like that deserved a medal, but sadly they weren't in that time anymore. Another couple more Cannibals came running up the stairs on the far end of the platform and just like the others, they were quickly dealt with as the large aircraft landed on the large circled H.

"Alright listen up. Cannies are all over this place and the power is out." Ghost stated as he briefed them on the area and its current state."And before anyone asks, the answer is no. We are not having Wolf to turn the lights on, if that is at all possible at the moment." Ghost growled as Raven was going to comment on their situation.

"Besides, we have a better advantage in the dark then they do. S we'll be traveling in the dark once we enter. So it would be best to get out your night vision goggles now." He told them. "And I hope I don't need to remind any of you that you better have a knife on you cause bullets will only attract more to your location. The team will split up into teams of two; Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta and Echo." Ghost stated as the ratio of women to men was 5 to 4.

"I can go by myself. Team Delta will consist of Spider and Mantis. Charlie: Flame and Raven. Bravo will be Christian and Mongoose. And lastly, Wolf and Octopus will be Echo" Ghost ordered giving himself the silent label of Alpha team, as he drew his knives. "Spider, Flame, Wolf and Christian will maintain a Codec line with each other along with me."

"Nice! This gives me an excuse to speak like a trucker over the line." Christian said with a spark of his childish self, which brought a smile to the platoon's face and a smirk on Ghost's harsh mug.

"Good to see you still have some embers in you Chris. Now then, according to Raiden's old mental recap, it's better that we enter through E strut. Once we pass through the conveyor system...Delta will head on to clear out strut F, the warehouse. You two better watch each other's backs in there." Ghost said with a pointed look at Mantis specifically, it was clear the South American was still not trusted well by the African.

"Charlie will take strut D, that's the sediment pool. Don't be hanging around the railings in there, the power may have stopped the process, but that shit is still thick enough to turn the whole place into a large sand pit." The two women understood, falling in meant getting stuck inside an artificial quick sand. "Bravo will take strut C, the mess hall, pantry and bathrooms. Echo, you will take strut B, which is the transformer room. Be sure to watch your shot in there. There's a bomb somewhere along the wall."

"Bomb?!" Octopus yelled at him, voice dripping with fear.

"Yes. In fact, there's at least one diffused bomb in each strut. But don't worry; they won't go off anytime soon. However, the same cannot be said if you were to put a bullet in it." Ghost stated as if it wasn't much of a point to telling them. "Pack a small oxygen tank if you can't swim underwater for long distances because parts of the second shell are in need of being pump since they've been underwater for almost eight years."

"So all we have to deal with are cannibals, long journeys underwater and diffused bombs, seems simple enough." Wolf said with a slight hint of sarcasm in her voice.

"Now as for me, I will take on the core and check all three floors. In order for me to get there, I'll take the same way as Bravo team..." Ghost said as he adjusted some of his knives and armed himself with one of the handguns on board the Osprey.

After checking through their arms and making sure their knives were sharp, they set off to enter the massive base. With Ghost taking point and Mongoose covering the six of them, the team slowly went down a set of steps. At the bottom, the team was greeted by a halted conveyor system. Boxes were still sitting on the lines, waiting to be sorted. Slow shuffling steps could be heard moving around the darkened room.

Christian immediately spotted five infected men and women prowling around through the light green sights of his goggles. Looking towards everyone else, the blonde also saw that the team had on goggles except for their platoon leader. Ghost ducked behind a partially standing wall and held out his hand. He then knocked hard on the wall, trying to attract the attention of the infected. The action worked as soon as everyone saw the heads of the infected snap directly towards Ghost's location. And without a moment's hesitation, rushed towards him.

The African flicked his wrist and the closest cannibalistic technician was brought down with a knife piercing deep into their skull. As the body dropped the other four stumbled over it and Ghost charged forward himself. The trained killer used his other knife and stabbed a rabid middle aged woman in the chest and neck. Drawing his handgun, Ghost downed two more and tackled the last, stabbing the young man through the skull a couple times.

The whole scene lasted about ten seconds with lethal efficiency and brutal execution. Taking back his thrown knife, Ghost got back into his guarded CQC position and continued onward without taking a second glance back at the bodies in remorse. Christian guessed if you take enough lives, you won't care to much sooner or later or Ghost simply didn't even see the infected as humans anymore.

"Delta that's your path..." Ghost barked pointing a still dripping knife to the sound at a electronic door. Walking over to it, he yanking on the metal slab. Surprisingly, it came away easily enough to let them pass since there was no power to help keep it closed. The Russian and South American headed through the door and onto a short bridge. "Bravo, Charlie, and Echo let's go, we don't have time to be standing around." Ghost ordered as he took point again with mongoose taking up the mantle to watch their six.

Looking around, Christian noticed a large spirit sitting on one of the boxes inside the room. The large man wore a trench coat with a chest rig on and an old ratty pair of roller blades. The man was bald, but the collar of the coat covered up his lower face. The spirit gave him a wave and the collar dipped slightly to reveal a broad smile on his pudgy face. "Laugh and grow fat." the large man croaked as he fell into a fit of giggles.

"Move your ass, Chris. We can't afford you getting distracted because you're starting to see things" Spider barked at him as shoved into the blonde.

Looking back to the spirit, Christian found that the large man had vanished into thin air. His giggles were still floating in the air, giving the dark room a haunting look. Following what was left of the team, he went through another powered down electronic door and quickly caught up with the others, who were standing before a bridge. It appeared to be a two level bridge. Once they traveled safely across, they all reached another door. Unlike the last, this one was left slightly ajar.

Ghost pushed it the door open and quickly looked around the room. The African kept on going, ignoring the sounds of cannibals feeding somewhere in the depths of the strut. Flame and Raven split off as Charlie team and converted to the tactic of Raven checking out the place as Flame watched her back through the scope of her SVD.

Quickly going through the sediment pool, the rest of the team quickly left the room for the blood bath of strut D to start. Going across another bridge, Ghost pulled open another door and entered a residential area. Mongoose and Christian adopted the move of divide and conquer. Which meant Mongoose would take on the mess hall while Christian went through the bathrooms.

Before they left, Christian pulled Octopus toward him and planted a kiss on her lips." Don't die on me Ana..." the Blonde-haired male whispered as Ghost kept moving almost without a care in the world.

"I'll break my boot up your ass if you even think of dying Dmi..." The Scandinavian replied with a wicked smirk that would of made the Joker ask her for pointers, before she kissed him back and slipped out of his grip to follow the rest of the team.

As the door to the other side close Mongoose loudly checked the bolt of his SCAR-H.

"That's very touching Brother. But it's time to go to work." Mongoose commented as he pulled off his metal plated mask and lit up a cigarette.

"You and your toys Goose, you and your toys..." Christian shook his head with a smile as he hefted P90. The 300 round magazine was ideal for what he planned if he was ever surrounded.

"come немного оцелот (Little Ocelot), you may look just like your father when he was your age from the pictures I've seen...But I want to see if you can prove to be just as skilled" Mongoose said as he flicked some ash onto the tiled floor, then headed to the mess hall.

"I will be better than Shalashaska ever will be when this is over, Borya" Christian hissed as he hated when people tried to make him into his real father as he still lived under his shadow in the Russian point of view.

Drawing his large drop-point knife, Christian headed into females bath. "ladies first..." Christian thought to himself with a chuckle. The ladies only had one infected inside and he quickly took him down with a well aimed toss of his blade, Christian really admired how deadly a knife can really be and he didn't know it until Ghost showed him a while back.

Looking around, the blonde had found a playboy poster hidden in a small cylinder in the corner of one of the stalls. Christian took a curious glance at the poster before he felt a presence behind him. Turning his head, he saw several spirits of the Russian terrorists staring and giggling over his shoulders at the poster. Closing the poster, the spirits comically bitched and moaned, telling him to open it again.

Christian took the poster and posted it on the inside of the stall just for their enjoyment. He guessed that with them being dead, that didn't mean they had to be bored too. They cheered and whistled for their medium as Christian left for the Males bath. With a side glance, he saw a blond woman face palming at the perverted display. Walking into the bathroom, Christian quickly ducked back out as he spotted a small group of cannibals feasting on some poor soul.

Gripping his knife firmly, the blonde snuck up onto the group. Four in all were feeding on a man with the MSF uniform on. His desert eagle was lying near Christian's feet. Slowly kneeling down, he picked up the handgun and quietly checked the weapon. It was covered in blood with four bullets in the magazine, not including the two bullets that were jammed inside the barrel. The blonde would of fixed it and took the gun for himself if he hadn't made the mistake of pulling back the slide and letting it go to slap it back into place.

**DARKARAI/ ELIJAH (GHOST)**

"That idiot Dmitrii!" The blonde-haired spirit of a woman growled as she appeared next to him.

"What did he do?" Ghost whispered as he had Octopus and Wolf trail after him since they were the last team heading towards their destination.

"He posted a really bad poster on the wall, after I spent so much time hiding it when my men did nothing, but stare at it instead of running their routes when we all lived..." Olga, was the spirit's name, said with a groan and pressed her fingertips into her ethereal forehead.

"Playboy?" Ghost asked.

"Playboy." Olga agreed as she continued to guide the African medium.

Ghost smirked at the humorous situation. While spirits could still touch objects, they couldn't general do anything like move objects like they used to do when they were alive, unless they worked together or had unmatched determination to do a task. Long story short, Olga's soldiers had a show they could watch for the rest of eternity and Olga couldn't do anything about it. Sure, she could punish the spirits, but you don't have much command over someone that's already dead.

Strut B, the transformer area, looked to be in bad shape. As they went through a side door, they were greeted by the sight of blood staining the walls. There were old buckets full of old soapy water and ammonia. Someone thought they could clean off the stains but if the newer looking stains on the wall were any indication, whoever it was added there own blood to the collection. Following the blood, the trail traveled under the far stairs on the other side of the room.

"Vamp...that sick bastard." Olga snarled as Fortune quickly tried calming her spiritual friend over the actions of her seemingly vampire-like lover.

"Remember what I said earlier. Watch your shot in here." Ghost said with no small amount of dramatization in his voice as he left the women to it. After prying open yet another electric door, Ghost stepped onto another traffic cone orange bridge.

A large team of spirits lazed about on the bridge. "SEAL TEAM 10 Bravo." Ghost theorized as the spirits gave him a smile and a few words of advice about what's inside SHELL-ONE. The bridge going into the core was blown out by some sort of explosion. Ghost drew a couple large machete knives and then lifted his hand up to his ear.

"Statues report..." Ghost ordered through the five way connection.

"Delta Team: Spider. All clear here. Not too many tangos and the bomb was left untouched. I've also found a few older model air drones and a couple of cyphers." Mongoose stated over his line with a slight cheerful tone in his voice, which meant either the Russian got his hands dirty or he had got his hands on some savory mechanics.

"Charlie Team: Flame reporting. All clear in the sediment pool. There's no sign of the bomb as of late, and were just sitting tight for now." Flame groaned as she spoke with slight malice.

"Echo Team: Wolf. We had some trouble with the one we saw earlier, but he was taken care of. And as for the bomb, is still ok." Wolf said quietly, sounding a bit subdued but alright nonetheless.

"Bravo Team, I said statues report...answer me" Ghost barked into his Codec making the others listening in flinch at the abuse of their hearing.

"..." there was nothing but silence that came from Christian's line.

"Christian! Answer me damn it..." Ghost snarled.

"Sorry Boss. I had to take out some cannies that were having a snack when I came along..." Christian stated out of breath.

"A snack?" Ghost questioned for a second. "Never mind that, what about the bomb?" Ghost asked in a more calm tone instead of his drill sergeant bark.

"One of ours, a MSF. He was too far gone and became a Canny. And the bomb, it's still sitting high and dry on a rafter." Christian said somberly as anyone could tell he was thinking about the how the man could of lived a full life.

"Get our brothers tags, Dmi. He deserves to be remembered for his sacrifice. Also, retrieve any sort of material on him." Ghost said, his tone growing just a touch caring for the dead man.

"Tags say Edward Drake, Raccoon. He was carrying a small raw-cut diamond?" Christian sounded curious now, the irony of what just happened to him earlier completely lost to him.

"A Diamond Dog admirer." Ghost thought to himself as he left everyone to just sit and do what they like as he cleared the core for anything. Looking at the broken bridge, Ghost prepared to jump. Glancing down to the water below, the African heard one the SEAL's speak to him.

"That's a long way down man, and we should know. We all died down there." One man told him in a sad tone with an added sigh.

Nodding at the advice, Ghost backed up to the railing and charge forward. As the tips of his dominant foot hit the very edge, the man propelled himself over the ten foot long drop. He would have fallen into water if he hadn't dug one of his huge knives into the metal flooring on the other side. He was literally hanging by his fingertips as he precariously hung there. Tensing his muscles, Ghost ripped out one blade and dug it in father onto the broken bridge to pull himself forward.

He repeated the process until he could calmly drag himself to safety without too much trouble. Retaking his knives and sheathing one, Ghost looked back to the other side. SEAL TEAM 10 Bravo was cheering and whistling for accomplishment of conquering the bridge, decimated as it was.

As a form of acceptance, Ghost raised a fist in respect to the spirits then entered the core. Pulling the door open, he looked around a corner then to the right. There, he spotted a door labeled locker room. Opening the door, he saw a frenzy of the cannibals trying to break into a locker. stepping up to a metal crate, Ghost drew another machete and made a drum roll on the crate.

"Time to die" Ghost sang in a deep voice.

The frenzy of eight wasted no time in bull rushing him. With the smile that would make sharks jealous, Ghost plowed forward. Ducking under a lunge for his neck, he thrust a blade upward through the infected' neck and through the skull and brain. Pulling his blade back, the African twirled around the body and slashed out at another. The next cannibal gurgled as their neck was viciously cut. Eventually, it finally dropped to the ground, dead.

Ghost beat back the remaining six as they cautiously surrounded him. They were getting smarter since they lost two of their group now. An older woman lunged for him, but Ghost instantly sidestepped her and swiped her legs out from under the her. The African then hammer dropped his blade right down into the skull, taking his other blade and throwing it.

The man that tried to take the supposed opening was brought down by the Machete, which impacting his neck, severing his spinal cord. Another tried at him and Ghost caught the man by the neck with ease. A second woman went for a bite and he simply moved the cannibal in the way. Taking his other blade, Ghost slammed it down into the woman forehead, penetrating her skull down to the brain. Ripping out the blade, a spray of black blood landed on him. He thrust the blade harshly through the man's neck and severed that core as well.

Dropping the two bodies, the feral killer threw his blade yet again and brought down another cannibal. The last one was a large burly male that was foaming at the mouth. Ghost was backed against a wall now, but his shark like smile was still on his face. The cannibal charged at him, but Ghost used the ark of his arm and slammed it into the side of its face. Ghost then forced the infected' head right into the metallic wall.

The splatter of blood didn't faze Ghost at all as he threw the nearly dead man on the floor. It then tried to reach out for him. At that, the African crushed the cannibal's skull brutally with his boot several times. Overkill was an accurate way to describe the merciless display of brutality.

"It's always fun to have these moments to unleash the Ghost..." Darkarai thought to himself with a wistful sigh as he looked towards the locker. The metal door sharply closed itself as someone tried to hide from him. Ghost purposely walked loudly towards the locker and stop once he was standing before it. As he lightly tapped the door, he ignoring the squeak of fear and just cleared his throat.

"You can come out. I won't hurt you." Ghost said with a, out of character, soft voice.

There was no response, with the exception of a slight whimpering. Giving a soft sigh, Ghost asked again for the person to come out, but this time a starkly feminine voice spoke back.

"I don't believe you, GO AWAY!" the girly voice screamed at him.

"She saw how lethal I can be. And even though I saved her life, maybe it was the last kill that really turned her off to me..." Ghost thought with a hand on his chin, stroking his slightly growing beard. Un-strapping his knives, Ghost dropped them onto the floor making a loud clattering sound. The AK-47 was the next to fall to the ground, and lastly was his weapon holsters. The African then took several loud steps back.

"I'm completely unarmed now, so please come out." Ghost said in the soft voice he reserved only for the women he saved back in Africa. It always helped the ones that had the really bad night terrors that the others couldn't handle.

The metal door opened slight and a grayish eye carefully looked at him. Ghost reached out a gloved hand to the cracked door with a more reassuring smile. Had he found a guy instead of a woman, the whole situation would of ended with Ghost calling the man a coward and leaving them there. But it wasn't a guy he was helping. The girl opened the door more and stepped out cautiously.

She was young, maybe eighteen or nineteen, give or take. She had jet black hair, which was pulled into a braid. She wore the same MSF uniform as himself and was shakily holding a COLT 1911A1. Full pink lips quivered as those grey eyes of hers watched his every move.

"W-who a-are you?" the young female asked him as she tried hold her gun threateningly.

"Ghost." He answered. "What happened to you?" Ghost asked as tilted his head to look her in the eye.

"H-hummingbird. M-my platoon l-leader, Tiger, l-l-left me here. S-said I was dragging everyone b-b-behind..." Hummingbird said stuttering away most of the sentence.

"So this...Tiger left you here to die? A green soldier like yourself and a woman at that..." Ghost said getting a nod from the woman. He then picked up his holster of blades."Pick two." Ghost told her.

"Why?" Humming asked him as her lip started quivering again.

"One is for your protection and the other is for when you castrate Tiger for leaving you here" Ghost said with his shark-like smile.

"T-tiger is a-a girl..." Hummingbird said with a small giggle at how much the African soldier cared.

"Dark...are you done going through the core or not?" Wolf asked, braking the moment between Dark and Humming with her voice sounding in his head. And if Ghost didn't know better, he could have sworn that, dare he say it, Wolf sounded slightly jealous. The snigger of three voices gave him a hint.

"No I'm not. Give me half an hour at the most before you head back to the strut D. Once I get there, we can head on over to SHELL-TWO" Ghost said as he strapped his weapons back onto his body and took back his knives. "Head out to either of the struts except for A, someone will take you in..."

Hummingbird said nothing as Ghost left the room. Hearing light steps behind him, Ghost turned to see the ravenette behind him, looking at him with a pleading look on her face. "Can I j-just stick w-with you...?" she asked him with the all powerful puppy dog eyes.

"Hmm, fine. Nut you better pull that trigger when it comes down to it. I can't save you all the time" Ghost said after he gave her a hard look that made her fidget under his gaze.

The bird nodded with some confidence and gripped her handgun tightly, flicking off the safety. Walking down the hall, Ghost bared his blades. The African checked a corner then continued on. Stopping by an elevator with a destroyed camera hanging off the wall, he checked around another wall. Waving Hummingbird over, Ghost point down the darkened hall at a lone cannibal stalking towards them.

"Easy take out. Just aim and fire." Ghost told the young woman.

She lift her gun, aimed, but closed her eyes. Because of that simple mistake, the killer instantly called her on it.

"Don't close your eyes when you do it. Hesitating is the one thing those animals don't do. It will kill and eat you without a second thought." The African spoke firmly to her. She flinched as if he yelled right into her ear but did what he said and opened her eyes.

Two bullets exploded out the 1911 and the lone cannibal dropped to floor like a sack of potatoes. Before the girl could slip into a depressing mode, he placed a knife equipped hand on her shoulder and told her she had a nice shot before leading them back to the elevator. Slamming a blade in the slit of the door, Ghost pulled the doors apart with a snarl of strength. Finally getting a look, the elevator shaft was dark and the metal box itself was stuck on the floor. Jumping down, Ghost called for Hummingbird after he land nearly twenty feet from the first floor.

Finally trusting him after a couple reassurances, the girl jumped down and land in his arms. Setting her back onto her feet, Ghost looked for the emergency exit to the elevator. Finding it and melting the hinges off, he lift it out of place. He looked in to see a pair of mutilated corpses and dried black blood painting the walls. "Those poor bastards resorted to eating each other when no other food supply presented itself..." Ghost thought to himself.

"Don't touch anything in here. Two of them just ripped and ate each other in there." Ghost said in a calm voice as he gently hung down and touched down without much trouble.

Hummingbird didn't say a word as she follow his example. Ghost had no complications taking five out of six infected people in B2. However, he left the last one to be disposed of by Hummingbird, who ended the creature with a blade through its throat. She didn't know it, but Ghost was giving her small lessons on taking out a target and it helped that she went along with it. The young girl seemed to be trying really hard to do as he said, as if disobeying brought a harsh punishment. Although Ghost would punish someone, he would never blatantly beat someone for doing something wrong.

Climbing up to B1, Ghost left Hummingbird to take out the two cannibals that just shambled around aimlessly. Jerking open the biometric door to the meeting hall, Ghost quickly lit it on fire and closed it back again as the room held about a dozen infected. The screams of agony were muffled as the lock on the door latched back on. Whoever was in there now was going to burn alive without any escape now.

"Core is clear. Start heading for Strut D. The other platoon must be somewhere in the SHELL-TWO" Ghost said over the codec line.

"My b-brother was l-looking for me. D-did y-you find him?" Hummingbird questioned with a hopeful gleam in her eye.

"Is his name Edward Drake...Raccoon?" Ghost asked as he looked the woman in the eye.

The girl gave a nod of yes in reply with a smile. Ghost was afraid that what he was about to say would utterly destroy her, but he knew she deserved to know her brother's fate. "One of mine found him. He was being eaten and was long gone before he got to him." Ghost said with a sigh as he saw the tears start to flow after he had said eaten. The woman just broke down in the middle of the hall.

He let her cry for a minute and then told her she had to stop for right now, She could cry all she wanted when they got back on the Osprey. Whoever this Tiger woman was certainly wasn't above dropping her own subordinates to survive. And if she kept doing that, there won't be anyone left to drop. Walking down the bridge, the two ran into Mantis and Spider, who were coming from strut F.

Strangely, a couple of old air drones trailed behind the latter like loyal pets.

"Spi. What's with the drones?" Ghost question with his AK-47 at the very tips of his fingers.

"I tinkered a bit with them and turned them on. After doing so, they sort of started to follow me around. I don't know much about it myself." Spider answered with a smooth voice which made Mantis look at him just as strangely as he did the Russian.

Ghost stared long and hard at the machines and their optic cameras scanned him like a potential threat. Unhooking his canteen, the African hefted it for a second before throwing it to the side. One instantly had their small green light flick to red with a small alarm and open fire at the thrown object. The canteen was blown to pieces before it fell to the metal ground.

"Protective I see. And you seemed to control your little "girl" very well too... Maybe you and machines are just like me and my "pets". This...gift of electronics could be very useful, maybe even turning Gekko to work for us and possibly one or two Rays in the fortress underneath us." Ghost thought out loud. Hummingbird paled and Mantis didn't dignify his train of thought with an opinion. (She knew very well he would hardly listen to her of all people. Seriously she shot AND almost killed him) and Spider... had his face mask on, but if the slight bulge in it was any indication. the Russian was smirking, sadistically.

While moving through Strut E, Spider and Ghost started thinking up ways of going through the second Shell. Hummingbird and Mantis got friendly with each other, and the younger female sort of admired her confidence. When they finally got to Strut D, the rest of the team were lazing about on the platform in front of the connecting door.

"About time." Wolf mumbled under her breath as she continued to lean back against the wall Octopus was sitting beside.

Hummingbird introduced herself with an ever-present stuttering voice. She seemed to either stand close to Mantis or Ghost, the latter more frequently than the form. Hummingbird didn't rely much on her Codec so she didn't know any frequencies other than her deceased brothers. So calling the other platoon was a lost cause. On top of that, the Big Shell had became a dead zone to even the Codec, so calling Snake or Otacon as a medium to get to the platoon was out too.

With six females and four males, the platoon now had ten members (well nine, with one temporary) in all. They only hand to check four struts since the other two, including the core, were still very much flooded with water. Struts G to J were two of the four they could go to. And hopefully they could find something within them.


	10. Chapter X

**I don't own own any of the Metal Gear Solid franchise or its original characters.**

**WARNING: Intense violence and excessive language you have been warned_Black Pitbull**

**ELIJAH/DARKARAI (GHOST)**

Ghost gave his platoon a small breather while he spoke to the few spirits that continued to roam around his and the others. The main purpose of the mission Old Snake assigned them was to clear out the Big Shell while rescuing the last platoon that was sent inside. The reason the first platoon was sent to the Big Shell was because they were testing out a controlled experiment. Obviously the controlled experiment got out of hand and the inexperienced group found themselves trapped on the forgotten base and needed rescuing. All thanks to a damn Ray that shot their bird out of the sky, resulting in an immediate landing on one of the many helipads.

According to their reports, the Ray didn't seem to be an AI because the instruments on their bird weren't able to detect the program. So if it wasn't a simple machine following an electronic command, then someone was inside the cockpit of the machine or was using a remote control. The mystery was figuring out who, or what, made a Raw attack them and why they did so in the first place. What on earth could they have gained from protecting the Big Shell? Was it really the Big Shell they were protecting, or was it the hidden fortress that sat underneath the structure? Whoever the hell Ghost and his team were up against was no average person. And it was a good thing they didn't suffer the same fate as the platoon before them.

Racking his brain for the answers he was looking for was become a troublesome event for Ghost. Did the enemy planned this or was this just some strange coincidence? And if this was the enemy's plan, why would they do this? It just didn't make any sense. Ghost continued to ponder as he fiddled with his AK-47 idly. Meanwhile, the group was on standby as they awaited Ghost's orders. Hummingbird, the newest addition to the team, was finding her place within the group quite nicely. The females of the group seemed to knit themselves together, as if they were a gang of their own. Flame even gave the shy young woman some tips on handguns while Raven was a bit snarky towards her. However, compared to how Raven was in the past, Hummingbird only received a small amount of Raven's snarky attitude.

When it came to Octopus, she was acting as a safer version of Harley Quinn while Christian's behavior was that of a sane Joker. This was until the two regained their jokester tendencies. The blonde haired young man was a bit rusty when it came to acting his childish self, but luckily he was slowly showing his inner fire as he bluntly talked about the spirits who were still bitching and moaning about the damn playboy poster. Wolf, on the other hand, was acting a bit distant but was slowly warming up to the new member. And Mantis, even though was still a bit stoic, made herself less of a mute, unless Mongoose spoke to her, who would be busy talking to Spider on the subject of drones.

"Maybe Mantis might have a few ideas on how this situation should be handled." Fortune told Ghost as she carelessly lay upon the railing as if it was a bed of some kind.

"Hmpf… I don't trust that bitch as far as I can throw her." Ghost murmured under his breath as he sent the woman a sharp sneer.

"You may not trust her, but you can't disagree with the fact that she's a smart one." Olga jumped in as her ethereal body suddenly appeared from out of thin air. "At the very least, be civil about this. You're going against your morals about women when it comes to her." She added as a smack smirk appeared on her face.

"Great. Now I know how my father felt. Nagging and manipulative… Damn it." Ghost grumbled as he caved in. These mere ghosts were somehow able to break through his suppression technique.

"Speaking of nagging, I miss having my nagging little vampire around when I was alive." Fortune said as she giggled lightly. "But you know, hanging out with you is more fun. Well, until I find him again."

"Oh yes, this is very amusing." Olga added. "Hmm, I wonder if my lover is still alive somewhere?" she asked with a pout as she and Fortune headed over to Christian to annoy him. It was their way of paying him back for the poster incident from earlier.

As Ghost moved, unnoticed by the others, he slowly approached the South American. Noticing his present, Mantis turned towards him. As Ghost stared at her silently, Mantis just stood there, waiting for him to give her an order. An order was the closest thing the woman ever got with contact that concerned the African savage at its best while being flat out ignored at his worse.

"Mantis, I-I want to bounce some ideas off you." Ghost stated in the most calmest voice he could muster while standing near the woman. This halted every conversation as if a horrible song had just killed off the buzz of a wild party. Basically, everyone found themselves in one of those 'what the fuck' moments.

"Bounce ideas…? Are you sure?" She questioned wholeheartedly as she became slightly nervous. "And why me?"

"Yeah, I'm sure." He assured her. "I'm just trying to vil, for now." Ghost added as he adjusted a large bayonet on his damaged gun.

There was utter silence among the group while Hummingbird stood there with a confused look on her face. It was obvious that she was unsure what was happening.

"Huh…. Why I-is everyone s-so t-tense?" Hummingbird managed to ask innocently as it grew even more tensed. "I-It's not like she s-shot him or s-something. I mean, s-she didn't. R-Right?" At this, Christian couldn't stop himself from snickering. Even Octopus suddenly found herself giggling.

"Well, technically speaking, she did. Several years ago, Mantis shot Ghost when they were in Africa." Spider stated as he took a long drag of his cigarette. He turned his head, blowing the smoke away from the others. "The shot nearly killed him."

With that, Hummingbird gasped in horror at the revelation she just had.

"You and I both know that who and why shot the other platoon out of the sky could be anyone's guess." Ghost told Mantis. "We might be able to see what's going on if we can get to a nod or get our pilot to try for tangos the old fashion way. What do you think?"

After pondering the thought for a few minutes, Mantis responded with, "That sounds like a sound plan; however, what's the plan after we see them? All we have is a hand full of guns, two mediums, one telekinetic, and a Pyrokinetic." Mantis put in after a couple minutes of thought.

"How about Ghost blows the damn thing up. I mean, he blew that Gekko up with ease?" Christian suggested, sounding like a child wanting watch fireworks go off.

"It's too large and it would take too much time and power to take it out." Ghost lectured, not even looking up as he stocked one bullet after another. "And besides, because of its size, Rays are built with large cooling systems. Even if I wasn't trying to destroy it and it wasn't against us, along with it standing completely still...it would take hours for that monster to overheat, much less blow up."

"How about that shield thing you do sometimes?" Octopus asked, getting worried that they might be stuck in the middle of the ocean and cut off by a monstrosity of a machine.

"Unfortunately using a force field falls into the same problem. It takes too much power to make it that large. And for me to hold it for a long length of time, along with trying to blow it up...not a good plan." Ghost explained as he slapped a magazine into his gun and aims at a sign across the room that was directing to one of the buildings. "I'm not becoming a sitting duck just to take out one target, while there's the possibility of there being more than one around. We are standing on top of Arsenal Gear. The floating fortress full of unmanned Rays, just waiting to be turned on" Ghost added as he fired a practice shot at the sign.

"Dead center of the D..." Flame whistled as she took a glance through her scope.

"Yeah, just as I thought. It's a millimeter off." The savage commented as he holstered the handgun.

After the conversation went on for a few minutes longer, more ideas where suggested. Such ideas consisted of Wolf using her ability of telekinesis to hold the Ray down. But of course, the idea person in question would still end up becoming a sitting duck as they concentrated on holding the enemy down. As always, it came down to just doing what they were best at, dealing with whatever shit that was happening at the time. As the team moved out, Hummingbird couldn't help but to feel appalled that that's how Ghost ran his platoon.

After prying open the orange door, they came to face a half rebuilt two level bridge. The lower portion was fixed but the upper level was just a skeleton to aid the builders in construction. Crossing the bridge, Ghost look up to the top of the building across to see a man wearing some sort of brown metal suit with two large extended limbs on his shoulder. He stood on the crane with his arms crossed against his chest.

"I want my memory, my existence, to remain. Unlike an intron of history, I will be remembered as an exon. That will be my legacy, my mark in history. But the Patriots would deny us even that. I will triumph over the Patriots and liberate us all. And we will become-the "Sons of Liberty" A man he figured was Solidus Snake speaking a dying thought for him and Christian to hear.

Christian shuddered slightly as the ethereal body suddenly appeared before him, staring down him, as if he was judging him. Ghost stopped to see what the spirit thought of his adopted grandchild. Solidus Snake then turned to Ocelot/liquid Snake with a hard look in his one good eye.

"Don't even think about trying to taint him. If you do, I will find you and beat the two of you so bad that you both wish that there was a hell to go to instead of getting stuck roaming like the rest of us. You hear me, Liquid Ocelot?" Solidus said with a monotone so harsh, it sent shivers up the dead man's spine instantly.

"I'm a different entity now. I have no use or enjoyment of making a new version of myself." The two-faced spirit spoke in unison as their voices meddled together for just a moment in a quiet truce between the two halves.

As fast the moment came, it passed and most of the platoon was staring at both Christian and Ghost as if the two had gone clinically insane for the moment. As they were caught staring into blank space, from their point of view.

"Spirits talking" Ghost spoke evenly and without any nervousness. He had done it a couple of times during outings in the city going for a supply run back in Georgia.

Most shrugged it off while Hummingbird looked utterly confused as she tried to make out what was happening before her. Moving along, they felt a sudden rumble at their feet. To the right, a Ray rose up from the water line, dripping with small streams that flowed down its brown metallic surface. The bright sun made the monstrosity shine in its light. As it raised its head, it let off an ear-ringing screech before looking down to stare at the small group before it.

"OH, FUCK! MOVE, MOVE!" Ghost ordered as he started for the other door.

The Ray pulled back and aimed it's arm, readying itself to fire at the bridge. Nobody needed to be told twice as they all made a mad dash to get out of the line of fire.

"Get off my base...NOW!" an electronic voice boomed over a PA system that was on the hulking machine. It sound slightly feminine even after the heavy amounts of distortion as it opened fired on them.

The line of bullets followed after them until they made it into a dug out like structure that went to the next building. The Ray screeched again as it launched itself into the air, eventually landing on E Strut. At that, the savage got a codec call from one of the pilots on their bird.

"You see the Ray too right...?" A thick Russian voice asked.

"Is it big, brown and trying to kill me and my platoon? Then yes, I fucking see it!" Ghost barked out in a frustrated tone. The question the pilot asked him was one he would have heard from either Christian and Octopus.

"Good, because I was beginning to think that I was starting to god crazy." Christian said from the corner of the dugout.

"Not the time for this bullshit, Dmi." he snarled as he ended the call and took a peek from the doorway and ducked back as a new barrage of bullets was fired off.

"Get out here so I can squash you like the insects you are!" The individual manning the machine roared at them as it let out another screech.

Silence was heard as Ghost and his platoon made no move to appease they're enemy. Suddenly, Ghost got another codec call, this one with an unknown frequency number. Answering the call, Ghost made a hand gesture to the others, signaling them to quiet down as they threw ideas to one another.

"Whoever the hell this is, you better speak while you got the chance." Ghost growled at the caller.

"Nataka mende mbali msingi wangu. (I want you bugs off my base)" An angry female voice snarled at him in Swahili.

"Ambao ni wewe na jinsi gani unaweza kuwa na mzunguko wangu. (Who are you and how do you have my frequency)" Ghost answered back in his native tongue. Irritation could be heard in his own voice as the most of his platoon looked at him in shock as he continued to speak in another language to their enemy.

The members of the B&amp;B corps were quite surprised, as well as confused, that their enemy had gotten their leaders frequency. They never came into contact with any other people and the only person outside their group that they had spoke to was Old Snake, Otacon and Raiden. They haven't even come in contact with the second of command of MSF that went by the codename Python.

"Tisa ... na I nyara udhuru yako dhalili kwa ajili ya redio salama. (Nine... and I hijacked your pitiful excuse for a secure radio.)" The mystery attacker, now named Tisa, responded in an even more annoyed tone as if she didn't like that it was so easy to hack into one of the most secure ways to call people around the world.

"Unataka nini, Tisa?(what do you want, Nine?)" Ghost demand in the deadliest voice he hadn't used since he tried to kill Mantis. The very sound made most of his teammates step as far away from him as they could. Mantis backing away most with good reason.

"Mi-Mimi nina afraid ya wewe-(I-I'm not afraid of you-)" Tisa stuttered and slightly gulped before she was interrupted.

"Tisa, wewe na vitu vya kuchezea wako mdogo hawafanyi kazi. Inaonekana kama wake zamu yangu ya kucheza. (Nine, you and your toys aren't doing the job. It seems that it's my turn to play.)" said a deep male voice with an icy tone to it as each world sounded half crazed.

In a split second almost everyone moved as the wall facing the bridge was pierced by long whitish green needles. Mongoose roared in agony as one needle jutted out of his lower right torso, possible hitting or narrowly missing his kidney. Another had pierced straight through his hand as he was steadying himself against the wall at the time. Christian had his legs going bowlegged as if by some weird luck a couple needles almost sheared off his package as they poked out from between his legs. To say the blonde was scared was an understatement as he bluntly said, "what's up with you killers and male castration".

Ghost grunt as three needles went through his arm and a final one through his shoulder blade. The needles suddenly curved at the end as if they were alive and hooked themselves into the flesh. Mongoose was soon on the floor gasping in pain, Christian was able to move before they got his little soldier and Ghost said nothing as he just looked down at them. His skin was already dead cells, and most of his nerves were already deadened. It was the reason to why he was a juggernaut with no armor in the first place.

Pulling his arm from the wall, Ghost ran his hand against the length of one and found that they were ice cold and slightly slippery as if it was frozen water. Making a theory, Ghost lightly warmed up his hands and watched as the needle melt and dropped to the floor as water droplets.

"Its, its only frozen water." Ghost said aloud, confusing the platoon. Something as common and mostly harmless as ice could be made into a weapon.

After figuring it out, the savage stepped up to Mongoose and spoke loud and clear.

"When I melt the ice, it is going to hurt even worse. There is only one water source around and it's filled with salt. That salt along with air hitting the wound is going to burn like hell before I try to close it up. So you need to mentally prepare yourself for the worse. Are you ready?"

Ghost sounded so calm, keeping his words from faltering, that it made the Russian pause for a moment. "Just do it already. This hurts like hell." Mongoose growled as he angled himself to ease the pain.

Placing his hand on the ice, Ghost warmed it up just enough to cause the ice to melt. As he did so, Mongoose clawed at his hand in order to make him stop. When Ghost heated his hand up even more, he caused Mongoose to roar in agonizing pain. When the ice was finally completely melted the African started to burn the flesh back together on both sides of the wound. The entire process took only a couple minutes but to the Russian, it felt as if it took hours before the pain calmed from a burning sensation to a dull throb.

"Kwamba mara tu upendo bomba. (that was just a love tap.)" the icy, half crazed, voice on the other end of the Codec call stated with a laugh to match."Tisa, kutuacha. (Nine, Leave us.)" the voice sounded like it was smiling psychotically.

At that, the Ray released a large scream and jumped into the water, disappearing into the depths of the sea. As it did so, its controller laughed at them mockingly. Ghost looked out onto the pathway to see a lone figure on the other end of the bridge, blocking their path to advance forward. What was strange was the fact that the figure shined as if it was made out of some kind of metal.

"Ghost you got to see this." Raven commented as she handed him a pair of binoculars she was using to scope out their new enemy.

Taking a glance, Ghost saw that the man was covered in some kind of skin tight, silver-colored material from the neck down. His body looked muscular, around the same mass and height as Ghost. Instead of a shaved head, this man had long dreads hanging down to his shoulders. Most were held together, tied into a ponytail, with a few hanging around his face. A handkerchief was tied around his forehead with a picture of a hyena made of tribal marks prowling the excess off the fabric on the side of his face.

On the lower portion of his head, he wore a silver gas mask. Every now and then, the mask expelled a white mist. Attached to the mask was some kind of strange bulky black collar that was around his neck that had small blood red thin cylinders protruded from it. He had a dark skin that pointed out that he was no doubt African and his eyes were dark and serious, exactly like Ghosts. By his posture, you could tell he was born and raised to be a soldier just like Ghost was.

"Stay back, he used Hydrokinesis. It's an ability that allows him to control water." Ghost announced. "It's pretty similar to my Pyro and Wolf's electricity." He added. "Wolf, you don't have enough experience to throw your power around like me. And for him to be able to make his ice melt and reform from that distance, he could kill you with his secondary before you could hit with any Telekinesis." Ghost said with finality before stepping forward onto the bridge.

"So you're going to handle him alone?" She asked.

"I'm going to have to." He answered.

"A good showing me strongest of two, I can tell woman is only practice with her power" The silver clad man stated with broken English as he clapped his hands, the sound was like metal hitting metal.

"Hmm, this guy is wearing flexible metal... Good, that makes roasting him alive that much easier." Ghost thought to himself as he moved to grab his handgun, but was stopped as a ice needle shot near his hand.

"Warriors use blades and power, not guns. Battle won't last long." The man growled like the Savage broke some kind of code to him.

Dropping the Handgun and AK-47, Ghost drew two machete blades as he faced down his opponent. In response, one tendrils in each hand formed out of the same silvery metal as his body suit. From a quick whip of his wrists the tendrils cracked and cut a grove through the railing of the bridge.

"Name Nne. (Four) I test for Babylon, new recruits" Nne called as he got into a ready stance.

"Babylon?!" Ghost barked as he got ready to cut the man to pieces, and charged forward.

Nne snapped his weapon out at him as the savage parried the move in his bull rush. Sparks flew as the metal made contact with the blades. Ghost flicked a few throwing knives at the silver clad man. In a counter move, Nne whipped around the tendril and knocked all but one out of the air as the last flashed by his head.

The sharp blade sliced away a lone dread lock from Nne's head. At that, Nne used one whip and snapped it at him. Acting fast, Ghost swatted the long metal away as he got into his enemies guard. Nne slapped his hands together, forcing the metal whips to mold into a short, sharp spear. There wasn't any time for Nne to use his new weapon as Ghost got close enough to stab his chest. To the surprise of both the African and his platoon, both machetes snapped in half as they impacted Nne's chest.

"Fuck..." Ghost commented as he looked up into Nne's eyes.

"Damn moja kwa moja. (Damn straight)" Nne laughed in his face as a wave of water pushed Ghost back.

Stepping back, creating spacing in between him and Nne, Ghost began forming a plan. He couldn't use his blades since the suit Nne was wearing was made of stronger metal and water naturally beats fire. He was at a disadvantage already and the battle was only two to three minutes in. And with the secondary ability still being a wild card, which could be the power of telepathy for all he knew, he chances of defeating this opponent was very slim. Before his plan could be finalized, hundreds of blobs of water lifted up into the air. At that moment Ghost had a slight flashback of the ice needles running the wall through.

"Get back now, stay in the dugout!" Ghost barked as he turned to the platoon in drill sergeant urgency.

Upon hearing the order, they all remembered the same thing as they scrambled from the hot zone and out of harm's way as the water turned into frozen needles and dropped from the sky like a deadly hailstorm. In that split second, Ghost formed a force field around himself. The hailstorm of needles rained hard onto the bridge, lodging themselves into anything they made contact with. Nne just stood his, unscathed , as the needles rained down around him.

"Good, nobody ever get out that attack." Nne cheered with a small bout of applause.

"This ends now." Ghost growled as his hands engulfed with orange, burning flames.

"You like demon. I call you Sita. (Six)" Nne proclaimed as he waved his hand round the area turning the ice into water, pulling the puddles together to form something new.

The water coiled and raised high into the air, morphing into a head of a snake. The water reptile was soon completed as its surfaced hardened into solid ice. The snaked glanced down, staring down ghost with greenish watery eyes as its tongue flicked out to add to the effect.

"Meet Boipelo. My power of water given life." Nne cackled as the water snake slithered and bore down on the savage.

"This can't be. I haven't figured out the process of the elemental animal." Ghost said in slight awe of the water given life. "So how could he…?"

"You do this with any animal. All you need to know is hard part." Nne said as Boipelo opened its jaws, showing ice shards of teeth before closing its mouth shut. It soon coiled up, preparing to strike its target.

In a show of agility, Boipelo strikes out, attempting to bite a chunk out of him. With his flames burning brightly, Ghost caught the snake before it bit the top part of his body off, holding both the top and bottom jaws open with his brute strength. The tail soon wrapped around his body and started to constrict, slowly squeezing out the oxygen in his body. In response, Ghost burst out his power of fire, forcing Boipelo to jump away at the sudden heat it felt to its frozen rigid body. It hissed in anger as its body melts slightly.

Boipelo snapped at Ghost again, only to receive a flaming punch to its face, resulting in a large crack. Seeing his elemental reptile struggling, Nne pulled back his partner and stared to shape him once more. Before long, Ghost found himself staring at two water snakes as they hovered over him. The duel snake began their attack, causing Ghost to act on the defensive as he dodged the icy fangs and striking fast tails. Before long, he found himself standing before Nne once more. He managed to spear the man to the ground, holding a blade inches away from his face. The two snakes readied for another onslaught but were stopped as Ghost raised a hand to them. with that, steam began to escape the water reptiles' skin.

"It doesn't matter if they are made of water or ice, the fact still remains... they can still boil and evaporate." Ghost growled as the two water-made reptiles writhe in pain as they started to melt back into harmless water and finally into steam in the wind.

"Good to know you not weak. You real warrior Sita." said Nne as he managed to escape the savages grasp and gain some distance. "I hate can't finish (come back alive Six)" the silver clad man called as a huge watery version of Boipelo rose from the side and took a bite out of the area of the bridge Nne was standing on. The reptile retreated bellow the ocean's surface. Silence took over as Ghost waited for the creature to return. Fortunately for him, it never did. And even though the immediate threat was gone, they had another problem.

The bridge was missing a huge chunk, keeping them from crossing the old fashion way.

"Let's move Platoon" He barked as he came up to the very edge.

"How the hell are we going to cross that?" Christian yelled as he looked over the railing, expecting to see the head of Boipelo looking from the ocean.

"I can walk, Wolf and Mantis can levitate themselves, and a few others, across." Ghost stated as he looked over the platoon, getting a curious look from Hummingbird.

With that, Mantis did what Ghost suggested and levitated across and landed without incident on the other side. Wolf used her power to take Raven, Octopus, Christian and herself across. Mongoose, Spider, Flame and Hummingbird looked over at Ghost, ready to walk across with him.

"Move it, we don't have all day." Ghost gestured forward while the others took a couple steps back in response.

The African growled and grabbed Mongoose by the shoulder, pushed him forward. The Russian stumbled over the edge and fell onto his hands and knees... in thin air. The man slowly got to his feet and slowly moved forward, one step at a time, while Spider followed along with Flame. Hummingbird still wasn't going, mumbling something about heights and fears.

"Just close your eyes and listen to the ocean..." Ghost said as he lightly ushered her forward. By the time Hummingbird was told to open her eyes, she had crossed without even knowing it.

Prying open the electronic door, they continued their search. They avoided the flooded areas after Bird told them that her Platoon didn't have the equipment to go through those struts. So that left the core, G and H strut. G strut was deserted along with H which only left the core. Coming across a slightly opened electronic door, the team cautiously moved forward with Ghost stepped up to the door first. Putting his back flat against it, he listened for any voices.

"Corporal, where is the backup ETA?" A thick Irish voice questioned with annoyance.

"How the hell am I supposed to know?" A woman growled.

"Well for one platoon 'leader', you're in charge here and you were the one who need to keep in contact." another woman said mockingly, despite the situation.

"When we get out of here, I'm having your ass for insubordination, Badger" the first woman who spoke barked at the soldier.

"Don't forget to report how you dropped two of our own to save your own ass-" Badger was about to start a rant but was stopped as Ghost spoke up, having had enough of their bullshit.

"We are MSF..." Ghost said as part of a code for allies.

"As soldiers with no borders?" Badger answered with a sigh of relief.

Ghost pulled the door open to come face to face with a young Hispanic woman with silky dark brown hair and brownish black eyes. Sharply motioning his head, Ghost's platoon followed him into the room. There was a bulky Irish man fiddling with a shot as he took a swig from his canteen. The man had short brunette hair with a short beard and green eyes. There was a Russian with the trademark face mask taking a breather against the wall and another woman who had black and dark red hair that was tied in a braid. She had a hand on her hip as she stood in a irritated position.

"Name? " Spider asked as he looked at each of them while giving his fellow Russian a handshake that only their nationality used.

"Badger" the Hispanic said with a slight smile.

"Bull" The Irishman rumbled out with the nod of his head.

"Cougar" The Russian said quietly as if he didn't like talking very much.

"And I'm Tiger. I'm in command here, so I suggest you tell me who you are." The last woman snarled. It was obvious that he was definitely a control freak.

"Well, Tiger, you've lost your command as soon as I stepped foot into this room. I'm in charge now and I got a few words to say to you." Ghost said as he got in the Black woman's face, making her crane her neck from her short height.

"Look here, buddy. I've done ROTC to get my rank. what have you done" Tiger barked in his face with arrogance.

"Spent ten years in the African war and killed countless men..." Ghost said with a emotionless voice which shut the woman up quickly as she visibly gulped."Chris, hand me those dog tags.." The blond stepped forward and handed the African the blood stained dog tags while sending Tiger a heated look.

"Tell me why my subordinate found these on a half eaten MSF? It says here that his codename was Raccoon. Last time I checked, I don't have someone by that name on my platoon." Ghost growled.

"We were surrounded and he fell behind..." The woman said not sounding very sure of herself.

"How about you tell that to his sister. Hummingbird front and center" Ghost ordered and after a few seconds Tigers squad was looking slack jawed at their comrade being alive. "I found this little lady hiding in a locker with six cannibals banging on the door trying to get to her. I got to her before they broke through the door."

Tiger couldn't even voice a plausible excuse as she had called the younger woman useless before leaving her behind because she would never pull the trigger.

"Now when I get everyone off this facility and onto mother base, I'm having you demoted to private and reprimanded for abandonment of fellow comrades-" Ghost would have continued if Tiger hadn't spoken up again.

"You can't do that to me! Snake put me in charge! And another thing, I don't have to follow your orders!" Tiger growled defiantly as she faced the mass murdering savage.

Ghost swiftly hoisted her by the suspenders and slammed her into the wall while drawing a machete that was half the size of her arm. Lifting the weapon up, he held it to her face.

"Look here you little bitch, you don't have the experience nor the mentality to lead a squad, let alone a entire platoon. And you sure as hell don't have the experience to overstep me." Ghost growled. "Now listen here and listen good, you along with your squad are now under MY command. That fucking means that when I saw jump, you don't ask how high, you jump and hope to God it's high enough! Do you understand me?" The African snarled in her face like the animal she named herself after.

"Yes sir" Tiger answered in a small voice.

"I can't hear you!" Ghost said again, putting the large blade on her cheek, drawing blood.

"YES SIR" Tiger yelled as she closed her eyes shut. Sheathing the blade, Ghost stepped away as he looked at his new temporary subordinates with a hard stare.

"Anyone else want to challenge my command over this squad?" Ghost asked as he looked towards Badger, Bull, Cougar and Hummingbird for any answer. There were none.

"Permission to speak freely Sir?" Cougar asked standing straight and at attention.

"Permission granted" Ghost barked.

"I am glad you are in control, commander" The Russian stated with a salute at the end with a grin clearly visible on his face. The Squad was looking at the man as if he grew a second head at the comment.

Octopus question it and Bull answered with saying Cougar never saluted to anyone, not even Snake. Not during boot camp where the first battalion was to pay respect as the aged G.I inspected him. Nor did any other Russian either. Most of the soldiers of that nationality never considered Snake the leader. Just the man in charge. He stated that their Spetznaz ancestors only followed Big Boss. Snake may have looked like him and had part of his biological DNA, however, he was not the man himself. Therefore not the true commander who could truly demand their camaraderie from them like Big Boss had.

It was not a concept or a principle, it was a sense of duty with the Russian as many were born soldiers and will die as one. It was clear to Ghost now since Spider and Mongoose had done the same thing when they were first dropped under his command. Both men never called Snake by commander or even saluted him when they sent him off, not even words of good luck. But not moments later they called him Boss or Serge as soon as he put them hard to work on the their abilities as soldiers for improvement as they needed work. Ghost shrugged it off and asked for a status report from Tiger who was looking at him intently with a glint in her eye.

Thank goodness here were no other casualties other than Raccoon. And luckily no one was injured, but the main issue was the fact that they were dangerously low on ammunition. The African sat down for a breather and thought on the situation. He had to get fourteen people off this facility and back on solid ground. At least they didn't have to go all the way back to E just to get on the bird since there was a landing pad on H. With a plan made up, Ghost set up a Codec with his pilots.

"Good to know you're still alive down there. We were just about to report you guys KIA since you hadn't called back since that Ray ditched and that weird instant hailstorm fell." One of the Russian pilots answered with a cheery drawl.

"Listen, we have our targets. Head over to H landing deck and keep it low profile." Ghost ordered as he stood up and started out the door with his platoon and temporary squad tailing behind with their weapons drawn.

"Understood. We'll be at the LZ in five minutes. You guys have only two minutes to get on board. H landing is too trashed from the last bird for us to touch down and the osprey can't handle a low burning turbine for very long before we literally drop out the sky" The pilot droned on seriously as he flipped switches and started the engines.

Ghost ended the call and relayed the time frame which got everyone double timing it through the deserted structure and almost tripping over themselves trying to get up the stairs fast enough. By the time they got there, the bird was just getting close enough for them to hop a small gap to get on. Tiger's squad had got on without incident, next was Flame and the two other Russians. They were followed by the B&amp;B corps. Just as Christian was jumping to get on, the Strut shuddered and became lopsided at an angel that made Ghost slide down slightly. Looking over the edge, he saw Nne's huge version of Boipelo constricting around H, I and G. slowly snapping the bridges away from H. Just under the lip of the roof, the reptile's watery head was using its jaws to break the singular support holding it suspended in the air.

"Ghost we have to get out of here NOW!" Mantis screamed to him as Spider and Mongoose helped Christian up as he was hanging onto the bay door with only one arm.

Drawing a large blade and taking a running position on the sloped surface, Ghost took off like a bullet to reach the bird as Boipelo finally ripped the support away leaving it falling into the ocean. With only a few meters to go, the African launched himself and landed hard on the bay door, tipping the bird enough to cause Ghost to dig his knife into the floor as he started to slide out the door. Catching himself, the dark skinned male pulled himself in with some minor help from Wolf and got to his feet. He walked further in as they picked up speed to fly off.

"SITA!" Ghost turned around to look out to see Nne standing on his towering snake as it flicked its watery tongue out "I kupata kaka. (I will find you brother.)" The man said as he pulled off his gas mask showing an lean and sharp face with a shark like smile that wouldn't have looked out of place on Ghosts' face.

At that, the Ray again launched from out of the water and landed on B strut. It let out a screech as another flew out the water and landed on E. Two more Rays rose from the water and screamed like a vengeful predator like its other companions. Tisa was laughing manically from over a PA system from one of them.

"God help us all..." Badger murmured from her corner of the ship.

"Leave God out of this, for he wants no part of this apocalypse." Ghost stated with a dead tone as he banged his fist against the bulkhead of the ship, signaling that the pilot to close the bay doors. It was a couple hours of silence as the pilot relayed that they were getting close to New York airspace. No one said a word and Ghost was fine with it. The African man enjoyed silence.

**ASHIA (CRYING WOLF)**

"Just who the hell were those people? But I guess a better question would be what the hell are they? Nne. Tisa. I've never heard those names before." Wolf thought to herself. Nne had a similar ability just like she and Darkarai had. And to make matters worse, Hydrokinesis seemed like a powerful ability. Especially that snake Boipelo. How he was able to create such a creature was beyond her. It even caused her to think if maybe she and Ghost were able to do the same if they could figure out how?

So many questions, but there was so little time or answers to them. Wolf was going to ask Ghost but he most likely had no answers either if he hadn't spoken them by now. Octopus and Christian haven't even asked yet and they were the most curious people on the planet. Whoever said curiosity killed the cat never met those two and the new squad didn't know any of them enough to question command yet.

"Were getting close to being over land Boss. After that, it's going to Canada and onto Alaska. Snake's orders" the pilot relayed as he swerved slightly in their flight. Suddenly, the pilot shouted loudly over the speaker system, "Brace for impact, were being attacked!" Just as the Osprey lurched harshly on the side, everyone was sent to the floor.

"Damn it! Do you bring any good luck at all?" Christian growled.

"We've been hit, WERE GOING DOWN?!" The pilot snarled as he struggled at the controls.

**_Thank you for reading, commentary means an opinion and i need lot's of it to know if i;m doing something right people._**


	11. Chapter XI

**Thank you my readers for coming this far and actually taking to get here as i don't do the typical thing of setting up due dates that i know i wont keep so just upload when i can. This is a fairly large chapter and full of blood and gore that might give those who aren't into slasher movies some nightmares at the very least and make never read me story every again at most by my opinion. But that is neither here or there to you people unless you actually read this part at all.**

**WARNING: EXTREME violence, i can not stress this enough.**

**I own NOT A DAMN THING of the Metal Gear Franchise or it's original characters and plot(which is jumbled up and spread apart into different games i might add) at best i only own characters such as Elijah, while Kazumi silverwolf my co-writer owns Ashia as she has taken that character father than i every could on my own and as such is hers. Another character Flame also belongs to Deadly Shadows-KuroOni**

**Thank you and enjoy this newest chapter that has of course been rewritten by Kazumi and checked over by myself.**

**ASHIA (CRYING WOLF)**

Moments after being hit, Wolf and the others found themselves falling out of the sky. Oh joy. Today was just full of surprises and it was just getting better for them. The bird was slowly angling its nose towards the abandoned streets of New York, picking up speed by the second. Red lights were flashing through the cargo bay as everyone tried to find something solid to hang on to. Buddy, who was still locked in his cage, was whimpering and whining the entire time.

"Hey Ghost! I really don't feel like dying today, so can you or Wolf do something before we end up becoming nothing but burnt skeletons!" Octopus yelled after tumbling to the metal floor below her.

Remaining silent, Ghost managed to return to his feet. As he stumbled passed everyone who was on the floor, he was able to reach the cockpit door, to which he threw open in a matter of seconds. Wolf got back to her full height and quickly followed so she could analyze the situation as well. Upon entering the room, she and Ghost found the bird's windshield filled with bullet holes. And to make matters worse, the pilot in the left seat was coughing up blood as he helped his partner keep the plane steady enough to attempt an emergency landing. The other pilot had one hand on the controls while the other grasped his bleeding shoulder, no doubt trying to stop the bleeding.

"He was hit in the chest, Boss." The pilot with the injured shoulder informed him. "I'm not sure he's going to make it."

"Well, before I kick the bucket, I'm going to land this fucker." The man gasped out as he started pressing certain buttons on the control panel.

Moving farther into the cockpit, Ghost made his way over to the injured pilot and grabbed the controls, attempting to help the man steady the Osprey. But upon doing so, Ghost found that keeping the bird steady was harder than it looked.

"Damn it." Ghost sneered silently. "How high are we?" he asked.

Before either pilot could answer the question, Wolf stepped into the room and glanced over at the altitude meter. Her eyes widen upon seeing that it was barely over the 15,000 feet marker. And as she continued to stare at the meter, that number was steady dropping.

"We're just under 15,000 and we're still losing altitude as we speak." Wolf informed him. "Just what the hell hit us?" she asked as she glanced over the complicated looking controls around her.

"Gekko. The spotted us and opened fired." The pilot gasped in between breaths. "Because of them, we lost our left wing."

"We just hit the 14,000 feet mark." Wolf told Ghost. "Are there any parachutes on this thing?"

"It wouldn't do any good." The other pilot told her. "We're to wild in the air. If you were to use a parachute right now, you and the others would be scattered across New York. Plus, who's to say that the parachute would open as you freefall wildly in the air."

"That leaves us with only one option left. Land this bird." His partner added. "Ghost." He said as he snatched his dog tags from around his neck. "Give these to my boy. His name is Ivan, but his goes by the codename, Shark."

"Here Ghost." The other pilot stated as he snatched his own dog tags off. "My son's name is Eduard. He's a pilot as well and goes by the name of Hawk."

"Hold on. We can still…" Wolf started but was quickly interrupted by Ghost.

"You should know by now that Russians are stubborn and hardheaded." Ghost told her. "These two have made up their minds. They both want to die like the soldiers they are. So instead of arguing with them, how about you use that telekinesis of yours to help soften our fall." Ghost yelled. He knew that Wolf's telekinesis would be better than his force field since his ability would only keep them in midair.

"Ghost..._Это была большая честь, привести наших братьев и сестер хорошо, как Биг Босс._ (Ghost, it was an honor, lead our brothers and sisters well like Big Boss.) The dying man said as he and his partner saluted him from their seats.

Ghost, as a sign of respect, snapped a salute back at the men as he sent them both a shark-like smile. After lowering his hand back to his side, the smile quickly faded. Ghost quickly turned on his heels, caught Wolf by her forearm and quickly pulled her back to the cargo bay with him. As soon as the two made it back, Ghost ordered her to create a shield around the entire room, shielding everyone inside.

"Can't we just use parachutes and just out of this death trap?" Tiger asked, screaming over the blaring sirens that surrounded them.

"No! We're losing air fast and the last thing we need is for us to be scattered around New York!" Ghost barked. "We have no clue what's down there. And if there are enemies waiting for us, they could easily pick us off, one by one, before we can complete our mission." He added as he buckled himself into his seat.

"Alright, enough question!" Wolf yelled. "Everyone else, buckle yourselves into your seats and hold on tight!" she ordered as she stood in the center of the room.

Without another word, everyone got back into their seats and buckled up as ordered. Once everyone was settled in, Wolf began to concentrate on creating a large enough shield around her and the others. Her main priority was keeping the room intact as soon as they struck the ground below.

**PILOTS' POINT OF VIEW**

"It's been a pleasure flying with you, brother." Sasha told his partner.

"Well, we flew many birds, Sasha." Grigory added. "My only regret is not having a daughter. Heh, I would have loved to have a little girl to spoil."

"Yeah, you would spoil her rotten." Sasha said with a smirk as he let out a harsh cough. "But you're right. A little niece would have been nice."

Grigory left a hand on the controls as he used the other to reach into a small compartment on the floor. Opening the door, he revealed a cigar case and a small flask filled with vodka.

"One last drink and smoke, comrade?" the man asked.

"Sure." Sasha said with a nod as he took the flask, downing almost half of the liquid inside, He then passed the flask back to his brother. After both had their drinks, they soon turned to the cigars.

After taking a long drag and blowing the white smoke out of his mouth, Grigory glance over at the meter, "Less than 5 now." he informed his brother. Sasha extended his hand to shake Grigory's. "Brace for impact." Grigory announced over the speakers.

"Well, let land this bitch." Sasha said as he smirked like a madman as a building appeared before them, dominating the view.

"I couldn't agree more." Grigory added, smirking as well.

**ASHIA (CRYING WOLF)**

As the plane struck the ground, the entire vessel shook violent as it jumbled the platoon in the process. But thanks to Wolf's shield, everyone was kept together and came out with sustainable damage. Most of that damage being caused from being shaken violently. When they came to a complete stop, Wolf canceled the shield. As everyone else focused on removing their seatbelts, Wolf stood still for a moment to catch her breath as Ghost and Bull heading over to open the bay doors. Eventually, Christian and the others joined to help them, but still the door wouldn't budge. It was clear to see that the door had been seriously damaged during the crash.

As the room continued to fill up with dark, choking smoke, Ghost ordered the others to back away from the door. He then ordered Wolf to blast the door off. Wolf muttered quietly to herself before punching the air, creating an invisible shield in the process. The invisible force crashed into the door, creating a large dent in the metal.

"Again!" Tiger yelled.

"Shut it! I don't take orders from you!" Wolf snapped as she focused on the door. Cocking her arm back, Wolf punched the air again. This time, the door flew off its hinges, tumbling across the war torn streets that stood on the other side.

"Move your asses, now!" Ghost ordered as he tore off the cage door, releasing Buddy within moments.

Rushing out onto the streets, the platoon ran away from the crash site hastily. Just as Wolf glanced back towards the down bird, the vessel explodes, becoming a roaring inferno. As they continued to run down the street, they all slowed down to a steady jog as they ran pass burned out cars and a few decaying bodies as well. After turning a corner, the group came to an immediate stop as they spotted Gekko roaming the area. They quickly ran into a darken alleyway as the Gekko made its way towards them.

The group held their breaths as it passed by. They had the power to take it down, but New York was crawling with them. So attacking one would no doubt provoke the others that were in the immediate area. After the hulking machine went around another corner in search of more targets, Wolf raised her hand to call Raiden. The African, Ghost, had ordered her as he was busy attending to the situation at the moment.

"**Who a-are you?**" Raiden asked, his voice cracking slightly. He sounded as if he had just finished a fight.

"Raiden, this is Wolf. By any chance, are you anywhere near New York?" Wolf asked with some hesitation in her voice. For some reason, she could feel that there was something off about the Cyborg shinobi.

"**Rai-den...? Hehe… Oh, you're talking about my weak willed personality? No. Raiden is slowly but surely turning into me, JACK!**" Raiden- err, Jack- said with crazed dark chuckles that soon turned into a full blown evil laughter.

"Raiden, what's going on? And who the hell is Jack?!" Wolf asked. Noticing the slightly scared tone of her voice, everyone, with the exception of Christian, was looking at her with strange looks. Christian, however, had a look of disbelief on his face as he mouthed out, 'oh no'.

"**I am Jack, but at the same time, I'm Raiden as well.**" Jack explained. "**Anyway, I hear you have a strong man on your team that goes by the name of Ghost. Tell him that no one escapes me. Ever.**" Jack laughed his dark laugh as he cut the Codec call.

"Who the hell is Jack? And where the hell is Raiden?" Ghost growled. It was clear that Ghost wasn't in the mood for any funny business.

"Jack... Jack is Raiden when he lets everything go. And I mean everything." Christian answered. "Jack appears when Raiden he lets go of his ambitions, his morals, and his beliefs. When Jack appears, the only thing he cares about right then and there is his next kill. Thus explains why he is known as Jack the Ripper. And when he's like this, he's going to let it rip." Christian told them as he looked at the smoke filled sky with sadness in his eyes.

After hearing this information, realization quickly struck Wolf. The story she remembered reading years earlier came back to her. The story about Jack the Ripper, the White Devil, and his uncountable kill count that was similar to Ghost's.

"Wolf. What did Jack tell you?" Christian asked.

"He said to tell Ghost, 'that no one escapes him. Ever' and before that he said Raiden was losing himself to Jack..." Wolf said as she gave the African in question a pointed look.

"What the hell is with you?!" Tiger quickly asked. "First it was that big ass guy with the snake calling you 'Sita' and now this guy named 'Jack the Ripper' is after you?!" Tiger growled at the commanding officer with fury in her tone.

"I don't have anything on Nne other than the fact he works for Babylon. And now, I got to worry about a man that's at my level chasing my ass too." Ghost muttered with annoyance. "Honestly, the good luck you talk about having because of Fortune is nothing but bullshit at this point."

At first Darkarai (Ghost) was talking to Tiger but then turned and was speaking to thin air for some reason, probably the Spirit Fortune he was talking about.

Wait, _Fortune?_ As in the woman she had gotten her discharge rifle from when Vamp was their handler... Never mind that. She would focus more on that later. As Ghost attempted to get into contact with Snake, who wasn't free at that moment, he went to contact Otacon only to come into contact with a young girl by the name of Sunny. The girl told him that she was taking over for her uncle as he was trying to figure out why Raiden had dropped his pain inhibitors and went rogue.

The African gave her a summary of the situation and ask for a new bird, which was promptly denied. Sunny explained to him that they were spread thin as it was and night was hastily approaching. With all that black smoke mixing in with the night sky, it would make it quite difficult for a pilot to fly around New York looking for them.

Ghost snarled and punched a nearby metal garbage bin in anger, placing a large fist-size dent in its side. Their current situation was getting worse by the minute. After taking in a deep breath, he calmed himself down and ended the Codec call with Sunny and thought on what they all could do.

"Chris, where exactly are we?" Ghost asked. He continued to focus on calming himself down as pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance.

"We're currently on Foster Avenue. By the way, why are we still heading towards Canada?" Christian asked as he took a glance out the alley to spy a knocked over street sign.

"You'll find out once we get there." Ghost answered. "But right now, we need to find a ride. Preferably one that's big enough to carry every single one of us at once. That way we won't have to make the entire journey on foot." He added as he hefted his AK-47 up to spy around the corner.

"If we keep going down and take a hard right we'll hit Atlantic, which is in the middle of Brooklyn. There should be a Humvee or two, maybe a BTR/Strykr or even a Tank if it's not too smashed up. There was a hard battle in that area from what heard from Snake when he gave me a broadcast some time ago." Christian said after a moments worth of thought, it gave everyone some hope they might get out of the burning city.

"Alright. We'll move out once it hits 2230 hours, understood?" Ghost asked, earning simply nods from the group. "And Tiger…" the woman in question just looked over at Ghost, keeping her mouth shut. "I'm only going to say this once. I don't tolerate bullshit when I'm annoyed. As of this moment, if you have anything to say that will question my command will either earn you a bullet or a blade. Do you understand?" Ghost stated in a dead serious tone to make his point of not being in the mood to f-around with.

"Yes, sir." The woman replied back in a surprisingly calm tone.

With that said; the African released Buddy from his chain-link leash and briskly moved forward without taking another glance behind himself to the rest of the platoon. They moved in a waning moon like pattern with half the members hold assault rifles up, keeping their eyes on the rear while the other half faced forward. The less fit soldiers covered the sides as Raven stayed in the middle holding her grenade launcher in case the front lines needed a little demolition into the mix.

When they came to the corner, the platoon huddled to the side of another alley to check out Nostrad Avenue. Ghost froze when he spotted two more individuals that was clad in silver clothing. One was a large male that had a shaven head and was holding a large war hammer. The other figure was short, a female no doubt. She was petite with short hair that was dyed purple. Along with the silver uniforms, both were also wearing black collars that had white pieces of fabric. The male had his tied around one of his large wrists while the female had hers wrapped around her neck, draping over her breasts, which was broadcasting a tribal hyena to the world.

"_There you are, Tatu_ (Three). _I saw that our little toys take out that bird._" The large man told her. "_I saw it crash a few streets over._" The large man soon gave off a deep laugh, his Swahili tone easily heard. Wolf could have sworn she felt vibrations from the ground from where she was standing.

"_Yes, Kumi _(Ten)._ The toys did their job._" The female, Tatu replied. "_I just hope I didn't kill of the possible new recruit Nne said was on that plane. I think Nne dubbed him Sita, which is a pretty good spot for someone who doesn't have a uniform yet._" As Tatu spoke in Swahili, a soft breeze came from out of nowhere, fluttering her hair in the process.

"_Did Nne tell you what element Sita possessed?_" Kumi asked as he slammed the thick pole of his weapon onto the concrete below, creating spider web cracks.

"_I recall him saying it was fire. And I can't help but wonder if this is the same man Saba_ (Seven)_ is obsessing over._" Tatu told him. "_She keeps saying he is some kind of god that belongs to her and her alone._" Tatu added as she lay backwards, somehow floating in place without falling to the ground below. Maybe it was levitation?

"_I don't care much. All I care about is finding more people that can give me a worthy challenge._" Kumi grumbled as he walked off, entering a nearby building. Moments after he disappears, the building shakes violently. It was as if a support beam was knocked out of place.

The huge man soon exited the building and started making his way towards the group's crash site. Tatu, sighing quietly to herself, flew high up into the air before she went southeast, almost breaking the sound barrier in the process. Ghost and the others stood still and silent for a minute. As they did so, Ghost sorted through the information and then shook off the strange feeling and quickly ordered everyone to keep an eye on their surroundings. He wasn't sure if the female truly left the area entirely.

As the platoon moved cautiously through the streets and alleyways, they eventually made it to Atlantic. And just as Christian stated earlier, the area was littered with tons of military equipment. However, everything looked completely trashed. One tank looked as if someone had blown it up from point blank range with a RPG round. Another was literally lying flat on its head. There was a trio if Humvees destroyed with one sitting in the middle of a building.

Glancing over the abandoned war zone, Wolf nearly fell over a burnt body. Looking down, she pulled a dog tag from around its neck and analyzed the item to find a name. t said Alex Hade, but that was all she could get from the tag since the rest was burned. Ghost soon asked for the tag, to which, she handled the item to him with no questions asked. Once she did, she saw him pause and stare off into space for a brief moment. Before she knew it, Ghost snapped back to reality and growled as his hand shook slightly as he mumbled something incoherently to himself.

"Hey. What did you see?" Christian asked as he squatted beside another burnt body, that looked like it was crushed by a large blunt object.

"They did this. When the Gekko couldn't get the job done, Kumi decimated them like they were nothing but bothersome insects. And Tatu… She's just as lethal. We especially have to watch out when she uses her bow. Her attacks have some kind of explosives attached to them, plus she uses wind. Kumi on the other hand uses Earth." Ghost explained.

Everyone shuddered at the thought of witnessing the massacre that occurred here. None of them couldn't possibly imagine what Ghost felt when he touched any object of the dead. To see what one was seeing moments before their death was a scar thought indeed. They often wondered, especially Wolf, if he felt like he was even himself. He's been using this new ability of his for over a year and a half and they all knew that this could take a toll on someone, including Ghost. They also wondered if he saw himself as a monster now that he realized just how brutal he used to kill others in the past.

Forgetting about the topic altogether, the platoon headed out to look for a vehicle that could still be usable. Ghost ordered Spider to scan over pieces to see if he could get some of the gear to work. Spider commented that it was child play since his father used order him to drive one of them around when he was twelve. "Ah good times.' Spider chuckled as both Mongoose and Cougar gave a nod in mutual understanding. They understood where Spider was coming form since they had also been told to do things way before they were ready for such things.

The Russian climbed up top into the top entry way and vanished inside. Five minutes passed as the Russian fumbled around inside the vessel, muttering curses that only the other two Russians, along with Christian and Ghost, could understand. Of course, this caused them to let out a few laughs. After completing his task, the BTR roared to life with a slight hesitation. Spider soon popped out with a cigarette in his mouth. The Russian flashed a small smirk and shot out a thumbs up to the others.

"Get in here you lazy bastards!" Spider called out as he lowered the rear door to let whomever didn't want to go up top to get in.

Ghost and Christian, followed by Bull and the other two Russian, hopped on top. The Blonde took up the mounted gun and started to laugh manically like the Joker he was, which lead to his significant other to say she wanted a turn at the big boy toy, sounding like a child. Honestly, Wolf was stumped at the fact of two people, in their early twenties, wanted to act like that in the first place. But she decided that the only way she could keep her sanity was by stop questioning it when it was only Octopus years ago.

Walking through the lowered door, they found the vessel had a few dead bodies inside of it. Most, if not all of them; were cut into pieces or were missing limbs. They dragged the bodies and the limbs out and used a little water to wash the blood stains to a level where they could tolerate it. Although the smell was forever ingrained into it, they didn't forget to grab the dog tags and handed them to Ghost who took up topside with Bull and Cougar since Christian wasn't leaving his new toy anytime soon.

"Let's hit the streets Spi." The Platoon leader barked while Spider was checking over the controls It seemed that the mechanic had to hot wire the armored gear.

Everyone else got situated in the seats that were on either side of the vessel. As the doors closed shut, Mantis, along with Badger, latched the few viewing ports to shroud them in the light of the BTR. Spider propelled them forward at a slowly pace so he didn't alert any unnecessary attention. The ride was kind of rocky for a while until they hit the highway. Since it was a straight shot to the main land, they felt like they could finally relax a bit.

However, their small window to relax was cut short when the large form of Kumi crashed just thirty meters before them. The man created caused the concrete around him to spike up into the air, forming a crater around his body. His bulky figure emerged from the dust as he slammed the pole of his weapon into the ground, signifying that he was now their roadblock, keeping them from advancing. Spider had no choice but tobring the BTR to a abrupt halt.

"Finally! I found more bugs I can crush." Kumi laughed, causing the ground to vibrate.

"Fuck that!" Christian yelled as he opened fired on the silver clad man. The bullets literally bounced off the man like rubber balls.

"Flame!" Ghost barked out.

The Saudi Arabian climbed up and took aim with her sniper and fire a single shot. In response, Kumi shifted his war hammer that deflected the bullet from his head. Flame cursed and continued to fire her weapon until she emptied her clip on the man.

"Raven! Get up here!" Flame snarled as she grabbed her friend by her jacket, pulling her up in the process.

After reaching topside, the Asian emptied her grenade launcher on the hulk of a man, creating a wall of dust they couldn't see through for a moment. Wolf climbed topside, joining the women, to see what was going on with the enemy. Ghost then ordered her to clear the dust away from their view. Once the task was completed, the cleared away dust revealed a wall of concrete.

Kumi jumped from behind the wall and stood on top of the wall before him. Standing there, he let out a laugh as if he heard the most funniest joke in the world. Like before, he caused the ground to shake. His huge war hammer was lying on his shoulder as he jumped down onto the ground.

"Ha! You better shot then last worms I faced." The man said, letting out a few more snickers before stopping. "Now DIE!" He yelled as he stomped the ground, forcing a chunk of white rock to shoot up into the before him. After catching the rock, he threw the rock straight towards them.

Wolf responded quickly and knocked the rock off its course, causing it to land into the water instead. Growling quietly, Kumi let out a snort before punching the ground hard, causing more chunks of rock to be launched into the air. He then sent them flying at the group as he did before.

"Take them out!" Ghost said to her with a calm voice, not wanting to interrupt her concentration. She was being tested to see if she use her ability in a quick rapid fire.

Wolf allowed a smirk to form as she knocked out the way six chunks, which were the smallest. In order to eliminate the remaining four, she sent out lightning bolts to crush the chunks into small pebbles. The hulk of a man snarled and dropped into a crouch position which forced a small crater to form around him. He then launched himself into the air. Kumi came down fast and hard like a meteor with his hammer held over his head. As he swung down, the huge war hammer banged against a thick dome of energy, sending a ripple across the surface.

Kumi snorted again as he stared hard at Darkarai, who he had his arms crossed over his chest and had an uninterested look on his face. Ghost gritted his teeth at the strain Kumi's attack put on his power to take a hit.

Now up close, they could see his face more clearly. He had a thick beard and several scars on his bald head that went down and over his left eye. The eye itself was slight milky but not so that you would think he was half blind, just a little hard pressed to see out of that eye. Kumi snort hard and jumped back and gaining a bit of distance away from the BTR as Ghost drew one of his largest blades, which was nearly a foot long. He held the blade in a reverse grip in front of his face as it warmed up into a orange glow from his power. A circle of fire formed at his feet as Kumi stomped the pole of his hammer a couple times.

"Wolf! Fire a few shots of lightning when you see an opening." The African stated as he stood his ground when Kumi started to twirl his weapon.

The silver clad man slammed his weapon down into the concrete and stepped forward, leaving a hand on his weapon that was now behind him as he snorted again. He shifted his right foot a couple times as he readied himself for a charge, much like a bull or a rhinoceros would.

"_Hivyo wewe ni sita, wanne alisema walikuwa mapepo ... wewe wanakabiliwa tu nyoka maji, lets kuona ni jinsi gani haki dhidi ya nchi kugonga vifaru._" (So you are Sita, Nne said you were like a demon...you have faced the water serpent but let's see how you fair up against the rocky rhino!) Kumi hollered the last part as he stomped the ground and charged him as he dragged his hammer behind leaving large boot prints in his wake towards him.

Ghost formed a force field again, this one denser then the last. He abruptly dropped to a knee and crossed his arms again. The large man slammed the metal weapon hard against the energy shield, making another ripple effect. But this time, it caused a larger ripple to form. In a split second, he let the force field drop and blew a stream of fire into Kumi's face, who stumbled back as he tried putting out the fire in his beard. Kumi continued on swinging his hammer, missing and always hitting either a field or the concrete as Ghost targeted his face.

Kumi was able to block the blade, but because he wasn't very good at hand to hand, his large size made him too slow. The highway was starting to fall apart at some spots from the constant displacement of the hard composition.

Finally, after five minutes of getting hit and not dealing out any, Kumi got frustrated enough to back away, moving as far as up to 30 yards before stomping his hammer onto the ground.

"Tired of shit..." Kumi huffed as stomped his foot, causing the highway to crumble in places to form something. The man soon created his own elemental animal just like Nne had done before.

The rocks formed and held together to form a rhinoceros made of pure concrete with black eyes of stone. It stared hard at Ghost and snorted hard, forming small clouds of dust as it shuffled it's feet, ready for a charge.

"Meet Ashanti...STAMPEDE" Kumi yelled as he let a rumbling laugh escape his lips. On command, the large mass of living concrete, now dubbed Ashanti, charged forward, shaking the highway at its foundation in its wake. Ghost again formed a force field as he was attacked head on. It crashed right into it destroying its head completely, it body falling to the ground, lifeless.

"Ha so much for that pile of rocks." Christian laughed manically, mimicking the joker he thought he was, as he watch the stampeding element die so easily.

"Christian, you fucking idiot! Don't you understand?!" Wolf snapped. "It's made out of rocks, meaning…" Wolf was interrupted from reprimanding the blonde when Kumi let out another laugh. Then within second, the rhino was back in one piece.

The earth made Rhino screamed and charged again. This time around, Darkarai jumped over Ashanti and attacked Kumi instead since he was the real controller. But this didn't stop the monster since it came charging again, blocking his path. Taking the moment of distraction, Wolf fired off a bolt of lightning hitting him in the arm. The man cried out in pain and fell to his knees as the metal he wore conducted the electricity, frying his nerves.

Ashanti, who was in mid-charge, fell and crumbled into rock chunks once more. Ghost stepped toward the down silver clad man as the heat from his blade died down.

"_Maneno yoyote ya mwisho?_" (Any last words?) Ghost asked loud and clear.

"_...Wewe na kwamba msichana ni imara, lakini i si kufa hapa sita._ (You and that girl are strong, but I will not die here, Sita) Kumi laughed.

His rumbling laugh caused the concrete to form around like a bubble and rolled off the side of the highway and over the edge into the water as he escaped them and his death. The bubble moved to fast to be caught by her telekinesis and firing lightning only made small cracks on the surface when Wolf tried stopping the runner but failed.

**DARKARAI/ ELIJAH (GHOST)**

Ghost did nothing as he watched Kumi escape. Instead he contemplated on the information he had. If the members of Babylon were named by African numbers and the higher the number meant the weaker the individual, than the ones with the lower numbers... That meant that Nne and the others called him Sita as in Six he was stronger than Kumi as in ten but weaker than Tatu which was Three.

It was a complicated if they were pairing obviously weaker members with stronger ones if Nne with Tisa along with Kumi and the purple haired woman named Tatu was anything to go by. Ghost just filed it away as more questions formed.

As he walked past the pile of concrete that used to be Ashanti, the rocky rhino, he climbed back into the BTR and ordered Spider to move forward and passed the pot hole riddled highway. He didn't even notice Tatu flying in the air a couple thousand feet above, armed with a Bow and arrow that was aimed at him for a moment before she lowered it.

"_Ninyi ni wenye nguvu sana sita, unaweza kuwa na idadi kubwa ... lakini hiyo iko mbele yenu kupokea fedha ... na kwamba mwanamke anaweza kuthibitisha muhimu kwa sababu bado_ (You are very strong six, you may have higher number...but that is before you receives the silver...and that woman she may prove useful to the cause ye.t)" The purple haired woman said to herself as she licked her lips at the power Ghost could bring to Babylon. As she flew in the direction they were heading, she passed them in the air and moved far ahead of them to cut them off sometime later.

To Ghost, the ride was quieter than before when he ordered the topside soldiers to switch places with a the other platoon members on the inside. The result, Wolf, Raven Octopus and Hummingbird took the positions.

After a couple hours into the ride, the team made it to the Northwest part of New York. Spider pushed the BTR to its limits as he hit the throttle after they hit more solid ground. They speed passed barely working stop lights and knocked cars and trucks out the way with the hard metal plated surface of their ride and flashed the head lights on when they couldn't see a few yards ahead of them. It was so dark that they almost ran right into a mother black bear and her cubs crossing in the dark.

They're eyes glimmered yellow as the lights shown in their furry faces for a moment before mama bear grunted and ushered her cubs out of the way and sat to the side as they passed by slowly and then went about their business. Raven had wondered why Ghost didn't say to kill them for food when he was told about them. His only answer was 'Sometimes the animals come back to help'. No one understood that except for Wolf and she only had part of an answer from when she was saved by a Wolf when she was left for dead on Shadow Moses.

When Ghost had a moment to let the slight adrenaline leave his system, he raised his hand to his ear to call on Raiden to see if he could figure why the Cyborg Shinobi was losing himself. Wolf specifically said that Raiden was losing control but hadn't lost it completely.

"...G-Gho-ost?...w-why are you c-c-call-ing?" Raiden asked, his voice echoing slightly like he was low on energy.

"Raiden. Wolf called you earlier and she said something about Jack taking over and coming after me just for the kill. What the heck is going on?" Ghost demanded with an edge in his voice.

"The...Marshal I-incident, it released Jack...h-h-he used t-t-to be a last resort. His c-c-consciousness is slowly but surely t-king over my b-b-body like a virus d-d-does a computer. At first I could control his r-r-release, but I lost that power w-w-when Jack took over and s-s-slaughtered a platoon when we were on a mission a few days ago... Don't tell me where you are or where you are going no matter w-w-what...J-j-jack hears e-e-everything I-I-I do." Raiden responded with a sad tone in his warped voice at the lost of the soldiers when he was possessed by his other personality.

"I can do that, but is it possibly to push back Jack into a more secure part of your hard drive?" Ghost asked as he pulled off his holster of knives and checked them over.

"S-s-sunny is trying to figure out a-a-a pro-g-gram to d-d-do i**...Hehehehe**" Raiden was explaining things to Ghost before he became quiet and then started to laugh a dark fear inducing laugh. It almost got Ghost but he pulled through.

"Raiden...?" Ghost questioned the robotic man.

"**hehehehe... So you're the** _**Roho ya Africa**_. (The Ghost of Africa). I'm going to enjoy painting my blade with you blood boy!" Raiden laughed an evil cackle that mad chills run up Ghost's spine.

"So your Jack... It seems like you're the rabies virus of Raiden, I might need to put you down if Sunny can't make the program fast enough." Ghost responded with no hesitation in his voice.

"**I haven't feared death since I was a little child in Liberia. I look forward to the challenge, don't disappoint me when I finally find you Savage...** Gh-o-ost, if you're any w-w-where near New York, ask Dmitrii for where o-o-our home I-I-is...there is a s-s-sword for Sunny and a-a-a gift from Dmitrii's real father I-I-I kept when we met while in hiding before he died" Jack said back with a fear inducing laugh before Raiden took back control and gave him that little message and cutting the Codec call.

Silence engulfed the area as everyone stared at Ghost like he was crazy. Even Spider gave him glances from the wheel.

"How in the hell are you going to take on Jack. He is faster and stronger than Raiden and even harder to fight." Christian yelled from his seat across from the African man.

"...You let me worry about that." He answered. "Anyway, there's something we need to pick up from your old home Chris. Raven, time?" Ghost answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world to be hunted down by a psychotic Cyborg Ninja on a war path to kill anyone that he finds worthy his attention.

Shivering slightly, Christian spoke out about his old home being a bit to the North West in the suburbs with large houses. The drive was quiet again as it only took about 30 minutes at most since there were no other cars or military in their way most of the time anymore. And in a war torn neighborhood, Christian made a crude joke saying 'Mister Rogers should of been here to teach everybody how to be friends with each other...". Nobody was amused, not even the man who made the joke when they passed by a ripped and shredded eaten corpse of a small child in the front lawn of a home.

The blonde pointed them down a couple turns and into a cul-de-sac, which had a few burn marks on the ground like something tore through the area like a bullet train on a sprint to the West from the broken down door of a simple looking two story house. Christian told Spider to stop the BTR at the house and hopped out and headed for the door. He was closely followed by the rest of the platoon inside to check out the scene.

The walls were splattered with blood of crimson and jet black, the white carpet was also stained with the mixture too. Bodies were lying in the halls; some missing limbs while others were littered with bullet wounds. Others had a bullet to the head from picking suicide over turning into a cannibal from the couple they say that had been bitten. All the carnage led to the living room where it looked like a massacre. Bodies and limbs scattered across the room.

There was only one complete body laying slumped against the wall with a hole in his chest, only one person could of caused this much damage. JACK. Octopus visibly shivered at the scene along with a couple others who have never seen anything like it...or done so themselves. Ghost looked at the body against the wall and saw a message written from Russian on the wall next to it in crimson blood.

Christian saw it too and read it out loud for everyone else to understand "_Остерегайтесь Джек ... и дай Бог помилует тех, что отвечают его_...Beware of Jack...and may God have mercy on those that meet him"

"Anyone else scared out of their mind right now because I am..." Octopus commented as she raised her hand. Hummingbird, Raven, Spider and Tiger also raised their hands as well. The African woman was shivering like it was freezing inside.

"Aren't you afraid Ghost? He did say he was coming after you?" Tiger questioned with a faltering look at the man.

"I stopped fearing death a long time ago..." Ghost answered as he pulled the dog tags off the body and waited for the vision to come to him.

**PANTHER...2400 HOURS BEFORE INITIAL DEATH**

Panther had been through hell and back in his opinion. He had been there at the Big Shell and had done a lot of mercenary work with Big Boss when he was still alive. To be honest, he could be a commander of a battalion if the temporary MSF commander Python would promote him to that position. But for right now, the MSF was poorly put together and the small force they had was barely holding the Mother Base together since America hired the Diamond Dogs and lost a good 77% of the troops to the OUTBREAK.

They weren't even an army anymore much less a notoriously infamous mercenary group. They were back down to the days of the beginning of FOXHOUND a damn militia group. Something needed to be done or the large group of civilians they had would die from the weak military enforcement and poor protection.

Until that happened, Panther was stuck out in the field with his platoon, looking for, yet again, more stragglers hiding around New York. Raiden had taken over as temporary leader per Pythons' orders. The frosty looking man mumbling under his breath about some squad going dark out at the Big Shell. Now Panther was a hardened veteran that hadn't gotten called for friendly fire since he was a green as grass recruit. But looking at the Cyborg Shinobi just made his sixth sense scream at him to open fire at the man.

He didn't know what it was but the feeling just never went away and it made Panther suspicious of the silver-blonde as they boarded a bird and headed for New York from the edge of South African. The city was as they saw it and from the rumors, it was still burning like it had since an operation the Seals' took on called the 'Hammer of Liberty'. Seal team 4 was going to move ten platoons of army and marines from the north and west and in between and push the machines back to the water as they moved in from the ground and air.

The whole thing was a disaster as something decimated all the ground forces and the choppers in the air reported that huge hawks were picking them off. They didn't encounter any 'hawks' but they were able to touch down without incident and head from the west to the northeast as they checked the very edge of New York. They had given up on finding anyone in the city, and about eight hours into the mission, they hadn't found anyone and Raiden wasn't acting normal at all.

The blonde kept glancing at his left hand along with mumbling and growling to himself as he had a conversation with...his hand? When they stopped the commandeered at motel 6 and rested for six hours. More than half the night, Raiden stood outside, wide awake, and was arguing with his hand again, only slightly louder.

"Shut up! You won't get control...you are nothing but a last resort..." That was about as much as he could hear before the Cyborg walked off and Panther swore he saw Raiden's left eye a blood red than its normal surreal blue. The next morning, every time the Russian looked at Raiden, the blonde was gripping his left arm in a vice grip as it shook at random times. It was as if he was struggling with something. This only made Panthers sixth sense tell him to abort the mission and desert Raiden immediately for some odd reason instead of trying to shoot him.

After a few more hours, they came across the home and neighborhood of Raidens' family and the Cyborg said he wanted to check out that area as well. The blonde cut down the door easily and entered the boarded house and looked around. As they passed the door to a room a cannibal burst through the door and tackled a female MSF nearby. The ruckus called out the rest of the inhabitant cannibals and a firefight ensued.

After dealing with cannibals that had taken out half the platoon, not including the ones Panther and the remaining MSF put out of their misery for becoming cannibals, they continued moving. Raiden was doing fine for the moment until a stray cannibal they had missed jumped on the cyborg's back and bit down into his neck. The man ripped the infected off him by bodily slamming it into the coffee table and pulling out his blade to stab the cannibal through the heart.

As Raiden stared down at the still infected person, it was a young male of fourteen with mess black blood matted blonde hair and dirty sports clothes.

"...h-h-he looks like...l-l-little j-j-john**...It is him**...no..." Raiden said to himself as his left hand shook again and his voice started to distort slightly.

"Raiden...? That's not John." One of Panthers subordinates tried to tell him.

"**hehehehe... Come on... I'm just your l-last resort...Last resort my ass, lets raise some hell! Hahahah.**" Raiden said to himself in the distorted voice as his hand finally stilled.

"Raiden...?" Panther question as he tightened the grip on his AK-106. 'I have a very bad feeling about this.' the Russian thought to himself.

As one MSF stepped forward to check on the Cyborg Shinobi, who still hadn't moved from his spot as he stared hard at the corpse, Raiden kept his back facing the others.

"Serge... are y-" The man was cut off as he fell to the floor in two piece from the blonde's blade. One man cursed as they all armed themselves. This caused Raiden to cackle evilly.

"What the hell is going on Black Cat?!" another subordinate question in a hurry as he aimed a shotgun at the blonde with shaking hands.

"**I'll tell you what... I'm gonna paint my walls with your blood! hahahahaha**" Raiden said with a dark tone in his voice.

It quickly turned into a bloodbath as anything they tried couldn't touch the Cyborg Shinobi. He narrowly dodged bullets and cut down everyone with ease, leaving nothing behind but severed body parts and blood splatter everywhere. Nobody was left but Panther as he didn't fire a single shot as he already saw how hopeless it was to fight the slaughter. And in less than five minutes, Raiden was looking predatory at him with a shark like smile on his face as his blonde hair was speckled with blood.

Panther deciding to go down like a real soldier and opened fired with his AK, making the spray follow Raiden as he ran to the side to avoid it. He continued to do so until he ran out of ammo and resorted to the handgun at his hip. The blonde deflected the bullets with his blade or shifted his head to avoid them as he agonizingly advanced onto him slowly. When Panther ran out of bullets in the handgun, he tried to throw the metal at him but it was knocked away and he found Raidens blade going straight through his lung, pinning him to the wall.

"What a-a-are you?" Panther questioned as blood fell out of his mouth at a startling pace

"**I'm the real predator, but just call me...JACK because it has been long overdue for me to let r' rip. mwahahaha**" JACK laughed darkly as he ripped the blade from Panthers body and walked into the hall and out the door cackling, making the walls echo with the sound.

Panther, in his last moments, dabbed at the pools of blood on the carpet and painstakingly wrote out his message before he sucked in his last breath and hoped his lover Albatross would do fine without him back at Mother Base.

**DARKARAI/ ELIJAH (GHOST)**

When Ghost came back to reality, he immediately ordered all of them to move the bodies to the back yard so they could rest. They checked the second floor and found nothing. There wasn't anything inside of the other rooms on the first floor. That was when they headed for the garage and found a small forge in the left side of the room. The wall had swords of different lengths and styles. On one work table they found a black box with an 'S' on the surface in cursive. Opening the box, Ghost found a beautifully crafted simple black katana with no hand guard and a note with initials 'O.G.'

The African was alerted to some clatter off to the side and whipped his head to the side. There, he spotted Wolf picking up a katana from a small pile. The sheath was silvery grey with a jet black handle and circle hand guard with a small charm of a lightning bolt hanging from a chain on the end.

Glancing up from the blade, Wolf found Ghost looking at her, "What?" she asked. "It looks like a useful blade. I mean, a machete was good to have around, but it's not really my style. And also, I was thinking that maybe you could teach me how to channel my electricity through the weapon like you do with fire through your knives" Wolf said as she checked the blade and then strapped it onto her back as Christian shuffled through the forge.

Christian tossed something around until he found a metal lock box with a note saying 'D, B-day'. The blonde figured it out after some thought and opened it to see a couple colt action army pistols with a strap of ammo and a beret with an ocelot emblem on it. The blonde rubbed his thumb over the emblem with affection over the head cover.

"Maybe I should take up my father's old code name, like Old Snake did for his father... Crazed Ocelot. I like the sound of that." Christian now taking on the code name Crazed Ocelot as he strapped on his two hand guns along with the ammo bet as he fitted the beret on to his replacing his old army green one.

"Well Ocelot, you got your work cut out for you to uphold that name..." Ghost said as he sat in the chair that was in front of a large melting pot and set his holster of knives next to it as he heated it up.

"What are you doing?" Wolf questioned him as she looked on from trying to force electricity into her new blade.

"I am making a couple new knives, should take a few hours at best since I don't have to worry about burning myself" Ghost answered her as he took off his gloves and rolled up his sleeves to get started on his work.

**I hope you enjoyed it because it would be awhile to write another chapter and for all those readers out there, i'm looking to make some new characters for future chapters and to add on more plot for my story. If you think you could honestly help me or just looking to add yourself into this story then just PM i'll get to it in a day or two.**

**When providing a character i need.**

**appearance, weapon of choice, quirks and personality type(such as bad boy, smart mouth, childish, serious, stoic, lazy ect.) and favorite branch of military(Army, Marines, Navy or other if you happen to be from a different country).**


	12. Chapter XII

**DMITRII (CRAZED OCELOT): Formerly known as CHRISTIAN**

Crazed Ocelot lying on the floor of the abandoned home, he couldn't help but to stare blankly at the ceiling above. Sleep was evading him, just like it was avoiding the others. The foul, overwhelming stench of blood clogged their noses and the ever persistent sound of a hammer colliding with steel coming from the garage wasn't helping the situation either. The only individuals who could stand the racket were Ghost, because he was the one causing the damn noise, and Wolf, since she was wide awake. Wolf was up in the middle of the night training her but off. With a new sword, the very sword his adoptive father created before the OUTBREAK, in her grasp, she was focused on getting use to the new weapon.

Within a short amount of time, she had gotten to the point where she could send her lightning through the blade, where it could course through the metal and arc off its surface. Now, she was focused on figuring out a way to fire off bolts and waves of lightning, similar to how she could do so without the weapon. Before long, morning had arrived, much too early for Ocelot's taste. His internal clock was literally screaming at him, signaling his that sleep was no longer a reachable goal by this point.

His internal clock and the constant banging of the hammer were becoming an annoying, unstoppable tune playing inside his head. It got to the point where he wanted to bang his own head up against a wall and demand Ghost to stop the damn racket once and for all. He was just about to make that thought a reality when everything went sound in an instant. The silence that had fallen felt like a gift sent from God himself as everyone within the room filled the air with sighs of relief. As the door to the garage door opened, the African exited the room with a couple of objects wrapped within a cloth. As he walked across the room, he eventually crashed down onto the slightly blood covered couch, sitting the weapons down onto the nearby cushion beside him.

"So? Are you going to show us what you made?" Raven asked as she growled grumpily from the lack of sleep. "It should be something to see since it kept us awake all night."

Glancing over at Raven, Ghost simply flipped the cloth off the objects, revealing a couple of knives that were at least two feet long. The blades looked like some sort of machete knives, with the blades being thick at the base, slowly becoming thinner at the end. The blades had a bit of a grove on the top, as if it was meant to hook, along with a few ridges that could dig into flesh. The main part of the blade looked like a katana with a thick blade. As for the handles, there was no guard, however, they had 2/3 inch wide circle with a smaller half-inch circle underneath the blade and hilt.

The overall appearance of the blades was a sight to behold. Instead of the normal silver coating, these blades were black, stainless steel. They looked like they had more than one use, which Ghost could probably come up with. These were no doubt blades Ghost would be using in no time.

"Let me get this straight. You kept us up all night long because you were making a fucking pair of pot stickers?" Tiger growled incredulously as she stared at the blades. By this point, Wolf was quietly entering the room. "ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!" She yelled. Buddy growled as he curled himself up in a warm corner. After a minute, he finally calmed down and tried to fall asleep once more.

"It's obvious that you don't understand the use of a blade. Any gun can be dangerous, that's true, but when it has no ammo, it becomes useless." Ocelot snapped as he picked up one of the butcher knives to examine its details. "But as for a blade, it's useful until you or something breaks it." He adds as he swings it through the air a few times. "Let me guess…" he began as he glanced over at Ghost. "You made them to last longer against those guys we ran into?"

"Yeah, you're correct." Ghost answered. "I lost a couple of good blades during that incident." Ghost added as he clenched his hands as he remembered how weak he felt at that moment in time. He hoped that these new blades last longer than the old ones. After all, he did use more material to make them then the others.

"Hey, Spi, what are you doing over there with that laptop? You've been on that thing since 0200." Octopus asked the Russian as the mad continued to evaluate the device in his hands.

"I'm calibrating the damn thing so it can pick up a signal from a nearby tower." He answered. "Hey Wolf, do you think you can spark something from this TV cable?" Spider questioned as he pulled out an old cable, which was plugged into the bullet riddled TV from the living room.

Wolf looked at the cable and thought about it for a moment before grabbing the cable. Focusing on the item, she caused a small spark of electricity to spring to life. The cord shook slightly, but that was it. Nothing else occurred. Wolf continued to stand there, grasping the cord, with her eyes shut. A few minutes passed with nothing happening, but Wolf was still standing there with her eyes closed. Spider and the others were starting to become worried since Wolf hadn't moved at all for quite some time.

"Wolf…?" Ghost asked as he stood up from his seat. "What are you doing?" As he walked over to her, he reached his hand out to touch her shoulder. Just as he was an inch away from doing so, a large arc of electricity lashes out and strikes him hard, forcing energy into his body and ultimately sending him flying back. "Damn it!" he exclaimed as he sat up. "Shit, it's gone numb." He mumbled as he held up his hand, examining it. As he tried to move his still smoking hand, he only received a slight twitch. It was clear to see that the nerves in his hand were fired from Wolf's "defense system".

"What the hell was that?!" Raven yelled as the others looked at Wolf with surprised and curious eyes. "What the hell is wrong with her?"

"I'm not sure." Mantis answers as he looks at his sister. "To be honest, it looks as if she's in a similar state I enter whenever I attempt to enter the minds of other people to lock away their memories. She's… She's projecting herself into the interfaces of computers and electronics. It seems that she's only able to enter ones that are plugged in somewhere and are connected to a tower or some other device." Mantis explains.

"Okay. So what are we suppose to do while she's in this "state"?" Mongoose asked the South American.

"Hmm. When it comes down to my version, I need someone to guard me while I'm in my mental state." Mantis explains. "But in Wolf's case, she uses her ability to manipulate lightning and turns her body into a walking zapper. Get to close to her and… well; you saw what just happened to Ghost here. But I have a feeling that she also has her powers of telekinesis in play as well. I wouldn't be surprised if she created a invisible barrier around herself in order to protect herself from outside threats that are physical or elemental."

Wanting to see if these thoughts were at all true, Mantis pulled out a small throwing knife and flung the weapon straight at Wolf. However, before the weapon could hit its mark, the knife curved off an invisible barrier and ended up sinking into a nearby wall. Mantis simply nodded her head, noting that Wolf had indeed created barriers from her own abilities.

"Okay. So how the hell do we snap her out of this trance she's in?" Tiger asked.

"All we can do now is sit here and wait for the projection to finish." Mantis answers. "We can't touch her, meaning, we can't move her. "But of course, if anyone wants to try, be my guess. But fair warning, you'll probably end up like a dead bug who wondered too far into the glowing light before it."

At that, no one dared to move towards Wolf. They all decided to take Mantis's word and just sit there until their comrade returns back to reality on her own.

**ASHIA (CRYING WOLF)**

After pushing some energy into the cord, Wolf found herself standing within a world that was quite unknown to her. The area around her was pitch black and dark with hundreds, maybe even thousands, of colored cubes. Some were as big as cars while others were as small as cats and other small animals. The colors of the cubes ranged from blue, pink, green, purple and even orange.

The purple cubes she spotted seemed to be dim and were mostly clumped together like a school of fish. Standing there, a small pod of purple cubes swayed around her. Within the group, a slightly larger purple cube came up to her but manages to stop itself before it could run right into her. Seconds later, the cube slowly backs away and heads back into the direction it came. Looking around, Wolf spotted more cubes out in the distance. There was a school of purple cubes surrounding a large blue cube as it slowly moved forward.

Turning her head towards another direction, she spotted an even bigger school of purple cubes, this one surrounding an orange cube. There were also a few blue and yellow cubes surrounding them Glancing around, she spotted large, car size, pink cubes as they moved as if they were moving on set routes. Small cubes that were a strange mixture of yellow and pink were buzzing high above the others, acting like bees or small birds. There were some white cubes that stood in place and were spaced out farther from the others. And even with the blackened area, Wolf could see there were indeed black cubes in the area. There were hundreds of them, mixing in with the other colors and a few cracked ones.

Many of these black cubes, which had small white sparks on them, were surrounded by green and it looked as if the green cubes were feeding off them in some way. As she continued to surveillance of the new area, she suddenly found herself freezing in place by what caught her eye next. A lone grayish-pink cube could be seen moving in the distance along with plain grey cubes. Close to it was a sun-sized blood red cube that had a few brownish color ones circling it. For some reason, she got an eerie feeling just by looking at it.

After taking her eyes off those cubes, Wolf finally took in the entire place that surrounded her. She then turned her attention back onto the school of purple cubes that had finally passed her. Within the school, she spotted a small white one that looked like it was slowly dying out. Catching up with the group, Wolf reached out for the cube. Just as her finger barely grazes the cube's surface, the cube suddenly pulsates before growing and morphing into a figure of a small child.

"What the hell?" Wolf gasps to herself as she looks at the strange phenomenon happening before her very eyes.

"Please… Stop him. He's… He's hurting me?" the white figure mutters, its voice mimicking that of a young child. The cube soon points at the purple cube that was circling it.

"Huh?" Wolf says. "Why do you want me to do that?" she asks.

"I-I am the… the core that… that represents that computer. All these cubes… they represent a sort of… electronic connection to the interface." The cube figure explains. "The purple ones represent you humans…. Mainly the ones who have nano-machines…"

After standing there, pondering at the information, realization quickly hits her. Spider was messing around with the computer to being with. He was poking at the hard drive before she found herself in this place. So it made since that the purple cube the white cube was pointing at was in fact Spider. Spider was, unknowingly, killing the computer that, somehow, had a level of consciousness as a living person. The computer, the system before her, could feel and it was feeling pain at the moment. Without a second thought, Wolf smacked the purple cube away from the white figure.

The cube Wolf knocked back floated away and was quickly surrounded by the other purple cubes that were lingering close by. Before long, the cubes all backed away from the one Wolf hit. She could only assume that the other cubes were her comrades. As Wolf looked at them, a thought suddenly came to her. Walking over to the largest cube of the group, she patted it casually. As a response, the purple cube pulsed and chimed like a codec call and soon morphed into a large male figure as a mouth slowly formed from it.

"Wolf?" Ghost's voice asked as it came from the newly formed purple figure. "How did you contact me with activating you codec?"

"I have no idea. But it may have something to do with this place I'm in." she explains. "This is just a thought. But I think I can access any kind of electronic device from here."

"Tell me. Was that you who shocked Spider from the computer?" he asked. A thoughtful look appears on Wolf's face as she looks over at the cube she smacked away.

Looking back at Ghost's figure, she answers, "In a way, I think it was. But it wasn't from the computer." She explains. "He asked me to get the figure away from him because Spider was hurting him. So I-"

"Wait a minute. Who's he?" The man asks.

"He is the computer." She answers. "You see… he has a conscious. Not only that but he can feel, and before I struck Spider, he was feeling pain. It's clear that he is aware of things humans and other living things are. To be honest, I think every single electronic is aware of things we thought they weren't. It's possible that they've always been this way and we just didn't know about it." Wolf tells him as she looks over the new world that the computer had dubbed the 'Interface'.

"Wait. Are you saying that every electronic is…. Is alive?" he asks. "They are aware of their surroundings just like any human or animal is?"

"Yes. It seems so." She answers. For a moment, silence takes over. It wasn't longer before Wolf hears Ghost's voice once more.

"Try talking with a Gekko." It wasn't a suggestion, it was an order.

"And why the hell would I do that?" she asks in a blunt but nervous tone.

"If its aware like you say it is, then you can find out why the follow the program of Babylon." He explains. "Try to ask them that." he orders before ending the call.

Wolf couldn't help but to sigh inwardly, "That's Darkarai for ya. He'll turn any situation into a mission." She says to herself. "But I suppose he has a point. If this can help us move forward, then maybe I should take the chance. However, I still don't think this is a good idea." Sighing to herself once more, she turns towards the computer core figure. "Huh. Which cores are the Gekko, um…?"

"Our names in this world are too long and far too complicated to simply tell you. They are long strings of letters and numbers to you, but to help, you can just call me "M6"." He says. "These are the last two figures of my string. And to answer your question, these "Gekko" you speak of. If you want to communicate with them without having to go back and forth, you can just create a small shard from a core and take it with you. Think of it as a small portable device that can communicate with any device." M6 explains as he points to the car-size pink cube that was moving around the area.

"So it's like an unlimited flash drive." Wolf mumbles to herself. "Alright. How do I do that?"

"The Interface walker come here at times, and any common information that doesn't breach our contract to humans is spread around like your humans' gossip does. However, beware. Once you make contact with the 'Gekko', he or she may be neutral as all our kind are to humans. Regardless of this, they will signal where you are in the Outer world and alert the larger blood red core to your presence." M6 tells her as he fearfully points at the huge red core in the distance.

"Wait. If that's true, then does that mean they already know that I'm here since I made contact with you?" Wolf asks. "And furthermore, why hasn't that red cube come after me yet?"

"No, not at all." M6 answers. "Let me explain. Even though I know you're here, I cannot broadcast your location even if I wanted to. The reason for this is because doing so will be a breach in my contract. I'm not like "SOP". He has fallen just like he did when he use to be known as G.W. Ever since that incident, you humans have lost the ability to track each other via your nano-machines. Not only you, but the Gekko and the great Babylon has lost this ability as well. The only thing I can do is tell the others of there being a third walker within the interface and nothing more."

"Hmm. Thanks for the info, M6. I greatly appreciate it." Wolf says in a gratifying tone. Walking over to Ghost's cube, she takes a shard of his nano-machine core and begins to concentrate on returning back to the natural world. Snapping her eyes open, she finds everyone sitting around, looking directly at her. "Let's get to the BTR and get moving." Wolf says as she picks up the laptop, putting it back together as best as she could. Closing the item, she sits it on the table and heads out the door.

"Why? What information did you get from the Gekko?" Ghost questions as he orders the platoon to follow along.

"M6, the laptop I was communicating with, said that if I were to come into contact with a Gekko, they would alert others to my location in this world." She explains. "Meaning, it's not a wise idea to talk to them while we're sitting in one specific place."

"Wouldn't you have to be in contact with an electronic source in order to return back to that realm?" Spider asks in a slightly confused tone. He still didn't know how to respond to what had happened moments ago.

"Not a problem. You see, we're already in contact with a electronic connection." She tells them. Some give her a confused look, signaling her to continue. "Our nano-machines. They are connected to the contact. I also learned that I could be inside this new state of mine at any time. I've just never figured out I had this ability because I never decided to push my power into an electronic device."

As she explains, she climbs into the BTR and takes her seat. Once the gear was packed and everyone was in their seats, they took off. While inside the BTR, everyone made sure they gave Wolf enough space. The last thing either of them wanted was to be shocked and sent flying. Ghost sure as hell didn't want that happening to him for the second time that day.

Closing her eyes, Wolf focused on entering the new world once more. Channeling her power, she sends the energy through her nano-machines. Before long, she finds herself inside the interface. As the cores around her moved, she found herself moving slightly in order to avoid them. Looking around, her eyes land on a pink cube. Reaching out, she hesitantly taps the cube's surface, causing the item to pulsate and form into a pink woman.

"Who… Who are you? You look nothing like Mbili." The pink figure states as she walks around Wolf, looking up and down at her figure.

"Crying Wolf." Wolf states simply. "I need to know why you follow the program of Babylon."

"Babylon, I have forty-five seconds before my hard drive signals in onto your location and alerts my brothers and sister and Babylon converges on you, even though you're moving." she tells her as she crosses her arms.

"Then stop wasting time and tell me everything you know. This pull is annoying as hell." Wolf huffs. It was clear that she didn't like this core whatsoever.

"I don't much care about you human either. But my contract demands it..." She tells her. "Now then, back to the topic at hand. I and my family don't know anything. We're just like your human armies. We're nothing more than foot soldiers. We complete the work ones a part of the higher up don't feel like doing. Babylon hacked our drives and changed our contract to the follow their orders. 30 seconds." The Gekko states as she explains everything.

"I keep hearing you all say contract. What exactly is that and why do you all seem to follow one?" Wolf asks as the pull on her mind really begins to irritate her.

"A contract is simple a set of laws. It dictates what we can or cannot do. But unlike you humans, many of us don't have the will power to go against it." She explains. "One who have the ability to do so are cyborgs, ones like the great Lightning Jack and the legendary Blade Wolf."

As she tells her this, she points towards a fast moving pink core that could be seen in the distance. Close by was a black and white cube. Wolf clearly had missed this since her focused had been on the cluster of purple cubes that now surrounded her.

"Fifteen seconds, human." The Gekko reminds her in a monotone voice.

"Where can I get more info on the matter?" she asks.

"Maybe from them, but I highly doubt they know anything at all." She answers. "By the way, we have found you, as has the Babylon core…" she adds as she points at something that was behind Wolf.

Turning around, Wolf comes face to face with a large, blood red cube that was in the shape of a figure staring her down with demonic black eyes. Wolf quickly notices a devilish grin with black teeth forming on the red figure's face.

"I suggest you leave this world and return to your own and help your kind." The pink figure tells her. "If you linger in this world any longer, either this world will destroy your mind or Babylon catches you and kills you instead."

As the pink cube left to rejoin her group, Wolf could only stand there, staring at the red figure that was towering her. She quickly breaks herself out of her trance when she saw the figure raise its huge leg, looking as if it was about to squash her like a bug. Without a second thought, Wolf ejected herself out of the interface. She manages to escape, just before the large leg crashed down in the very spot she was standing in moments ago. The core could only screech in rage as it lost it chance to kill its prey before it escaped. As the roar echoed through the air, the core returned back to it former state and floated back to its original location.

**DMITRII (CRAZED OCELOT) Formerly CHRISTIAN**

Wolf was still inside that interface world or whatever as they group swerved around cars, running through people's abandoned yards. They were traveling smoothly up until a swarm of Gekko appeared. Because of this, Spider had no choice but to move off the streets and onto unpaved roads. The Gekko mooed like cows as they fired their weapons or tried to stomp down on them.

So far, Spider was doing a good job avoiding their attacks. As he did so, Ocelot used the mounted mini-gun while his blonde counterpart used Wolf's firearm, hefting from left to right, thanks to Hummingbird. The two couldn't help but wonder how the living hell Crying Wolf could lug around the weapon, much less, shrug of the recoil the gun gave off with each shot fired.

Octopus had lost her grip a fair amount of times when she was firing the damn thing. But that stopped when Ghost snatched it from her grasp and instead allowed her to handle an AK-47. When they hit the highway, they still had eight Gekko running after them. Having about enough of the chase, Ghost tossed down the firearm in his hands and resorted to his Pyro ability. With a slight twitch of his hand, Ghost fired a fire bullet, blowing up the Gekko he had lined up in his sights. He continued doing this until there wasn't a single Gekko left standing. But even though the immediately threat was over, the team knew better not to let their guards down.

And they were right. Moments later, Ocelot noticed a white streak coming up from their right flank. The clouds were being cut through like butter by something flying through them. Then suddenly, a long thin black metal pole, about a foot long, hit the lip of the opening. It looked like an arrow as it quivered on impact. Once it stopped moving, two green lights appear, one changing to a red color, blinking and beeping violently.

Ghost quickly grabbed the weapon and used one of his blade to cut the shaft that had the light attached to it. As soon as he throws the object away from him and the team, the second light turned red and went off. The arrow blow up, raining chunks of concrete and shrapnel as it exploded, showing them that it had been a bomb. A figure flew in front of them and fired three more at their twelve o, clock. Ghost used his force field to protect everyone. It was then that Wolf finally woke up. Getting to her feet, she equipping her machine gun and got ready for the fight. The explosive arrows tapped off and fell around them as they passed and blew up the grown behind them.

"I got my own trick too, you bitch!" Ghost barks as he blows fire at the flying woman, which he learned was none other than Tatu. She was wearing a pair of goggles, shielding her eyes as her purple hair was fluttering hard in the wind. She looked down at the group with an evil smile printed on her face.

"Msiwe kama kuwa, sita (Don't be like that Sita)" Tatu called out as she used her power of wind to miss direct the stream of fire away from her. "Why don't you join me? You being held back in this pitiful resistance that your military has created. Its saddening. The blood lust is building up inside you. I can feel it." She continued as she made the BTR skid to a halt. "Its unlike you to hold such a power back."

"And how the hell would you know?" Ghost snarled at the silver clad woman in the air.

"Because, that's not your true nature. You were made to kill… just like the rest of us." She stated bluntly. "You holding back your blood lust is the same as locking up a wild animal in a cage. It will continue to bide its time, wait patiently, until its release." She said as she released a dark laugh. "Or until it finally finds a moment to break out. And when that happens…"

"And when that happens, it's going to be a bloody slaughter." Ghost mutters to himself. He knew everyone from his original platoon knew how he could get a bit out of control. Especially when it came to enemies he fought in hand-to-hand combat.

Before the flying woman could continue with her rambling, a streak of lightning appears from out of nowhere, missing her by only a inch. Turning his head, Ocelot glanced back to see Wolf with her arm extended out before her. Wolf didn't look too pleased, and who could blame her. Ocelot saw the angry glare in her eyes as she stared the woman down with a emotion much more powerful than hate. And if the anger in her eyes didn't tell him she was pissed, then the scowl she was wearing did.

Suddenly, the back door to the BTR opened, allowing the remaining members of the platoon to exit. They all stared the woman down; aiming whatever weapons they had in their grasps towards her. Even Buddy stood in a attack position as he growled at the woman. He eyes burning red as foam formed around the corners of his mouth. Ocelot could only turn back around to glance back at the woman. Of course she had him and the others against her, but it didn't help her situation if she had Ghost's canine and human partners glaring daggers at her.

"It seems that I'm clearly outnumbered here." Tatu mutter, her evil smile stayed firmly in place. "No matter. I was only here for a pleasant visit, but I think I've overstayed my welcome. However, I can't leave you all just yet. Well, not without a parting gift of course!" She yelled just before she whipped an arrow from her quiver, firing one right a Buddy. With that, she created a small vortex to misdirect the rain of bullets that were heading for her. She quickly shot into the sky, fleeing the scene as fast as she could.

Her departure left a large streak of white smoke behind her as she headed east. Once the vortex disappeared, Ocelot found Ghost hovering over his beloved pet as he whimpered quietly in pain. Tatu's arrow had struck Buddy, right into the animal's chest.

DARKARIA/ELIJAH (GHOST)

The bitch had got away, but not before taking out his dog. Buddy wasn't just his only pet, he had others, but he had a close bond with him. And shooting Buddy was the same as shooting a relative or close friend of his. He was thankful that the arrow wasn't an explosive one, but that didn't help the situation at all. The point of the matter was that Buddy was dying and there wasn't anything he could do about it.

"The Spirit… Collect the spirit Darkarai quickly before you lose it for good…." A silent whisper told him in to his. It sounded familiar, but Ghost didn't have the patience to figure that out.

Glancing up, hovering over Buddy's lifeless body was a white will-o-wisp in the shape of a sleeping puppy. Because Ghost and Wolf were the only ones who could see the small spirit, confusion continue to hang over the remaining members of the platoon. Ignoring their confused stares, Ghost grasped the soul, to which, it awoke in his hands. That's when the voice from before spoke again.

"Use that block of wood on the side of you. Burn it and force the soul into It." it stated.

Without asking a single question, Ghost looked to his right to find a broken tree branch. Grasping the branch in his free hand, he quickly set it ablaze and gently pushed the puppy's soul into it. As they waited, the branch eventually burned into nothing more than a pile of ash. A few moments later, the ash began to rekindle and burn once again. But as it did so, the ash began to rise and take on a new shape as well.

First, four legs were formed, followed a body, a tail and eventually a head with pointed ears. Fiery red eyes blinked to life as smoke freed from its slightly opened mouth. After becoming aware of its surroundings, the red eyes moved, landing on Ghost. Staring at him, the form of ash barked like a dog. But what came afterwards shocked everyone.

"Master…" A dark, but sub-servant voice called out.

"What?!" Ghost managed to muter out. He could only look at the dog with a surprised look in his eyes.

"Don't you recognize me, Master?" the dog spoke once more. "Once upon a time, I did have a name…" he added.

"Huh? Buddy?" Ghost asked. A second later, a smirk began to form as he got of off his knees. He just stood up, staring down as his resurrected companion.

"Hmm. So you do remember me." said the creature. "However, I'm no longer Buddy. You see, my true body died, along with that name. So with this new form, I believe a new name should be given as well."

"What the hell? How the fuck is this even possible?" Tiger questioned as she pointed accusingly at the dog made of ash that stood feet before her and the others. The dog's ashy fur bristled slightly, fire flared over its body for a moment, signaling that it was becoming greatly annoyed.

"Can I kill her, Master?" he asked. "She's too loud and very annoying." It added with a growl as it stared at Tiger with a menacing glare. This caused Tiger to take a few steps back.

"Well, I agree with you that she's loud and annoying." Ghost told him, to which, everyone, with the exception of Wolf, looked at him strangely. All they could hear was the creature barking.

"Ghost." Wolf stated, causing the said man to look at her. "Care to explain how you did that? All I saw was you grabbing a white puppy and pushing it into a burning branch." She stated. The man just stood there, sending her a dark smirk.

"I can't really explain it myself. But I think, somehow, I was able to save Buddy's soul." He told her. "And I think, because of that, I was able to create a elemental beast. I'm just as confused as you are here."

"Yeah, I can see that." she stated as she looked down at the resurrected Buddy. "Well, the way I see it, we can't just let him roam around. Well, not without a proper name, of course. And to be honest, I don't think you have a good sense of naming."

"Okay, so I called him Buddy. It was just an fly little name I came up with off the spot." Ghost explained. "I can do better."

"I highly doubt that." she muttered as she folded her arms against her chest. As the two glanced down at the new ally, the dog continued to walk around, glancing back as it watched its footprints leave behind burned indentions on the concrete.

"Just what the hell are you and Wolf?!" Badger suddenly exclaimed in shock. "Are you two some kind of super human or strange phenomenon?" She added as she looked fearfully at the three.

"I think it had something to do with the water in Africa. There had to be something inside it." Ocelot jokingly stated with a slight chuckle.

"Yeah, it's obvious that there was something in the water." Wolf stated in a sarcastic tone.

"No, there wasn't. Or at least, I don't think there was." Ghost told them, earning a glare from Wolf in the process. "I know for a fact that most had the ability to awaken hidden abilities similar to the ones we have. If you have this awakening inside you, there must be something to make it happen. A trigger of some sort."

"We're not super human. Raiden would most likely fall into that category." Wolf told them. "His minor ability to manipulate lightning shows he had this awakening. Plus, he was born in Liberia."

"And there's Python. I heard he could turn a battlefield into a small controlled blizzard if he could by enough time to do so." Ghost added.

"Yeah, you're right about that." Cougar stated.

"Alright, I think we had enough of an history lesson for today.' Ocelot chimed in. "So what now? Are we still heading to Canada?"

"Of course." Wolf and Ghost answered together.

"We have to reach Alaska and check out Shadow Moses for any survivors." He explained. "After that, we'll rendezvous with a contact that will take us to Mother Base." He added as he gave his new beast a pat on the head, unknowingly creating a small cloud of soot.

"Alright. Who's the contract?" Mantis asked.

"They are simply known as the FROGS and nothing more." Ghost answered. "All I know is that they will get us to where we need to go. But if and only if we had the SON…?"

"And just what the hell is the Son?!" Tiger asked in an annoyed tone. It was clear to see that the jumping from one topic to another was annoying the hell out of her. Her voice just caused the dog to flare up flames around its body again.

"I don't think it's a what, more of a who." Wolf told her as she glance over at Ghost who was staring dead at Ocelot. Everyone looked at her as she continued to look at Ghost as he looked at Ocelot. Before long, everyone was looking at Ocelot.

"What the fuck are you all looking at…?" Ocelot asked as he looked at everyone with a clueless expression on his face. After a minute, it finally dong on him. "Hold on. They'll only pick us up if I'm with you? How the hell would they know I'm Revolver's son in the first place?"

"You look exactly like him at that age. All you need is the rest of the GRU uniform, work on your face scares and it would look like the man had come back from the dead and found the fountain of damn youth too." Spider said as he took an old black and white photo and shoved it into the blonde's face.

Only Ghost and Ocelot heard the double laced laugh of the spirit at that moment in time. Although Ocelot was not amused in the least.

"We'll get through the details later. So let's get going. We still have to get to Shadow Moses first." Ghost told them. "Come on Femi." Ghost said to his companion as they headed back to the BTR.

"Femi? What the heck…" Wolf started but just found herself shaking her head. "You know what. I don't want to know. This just proves my point." She told him as she turned to follow the two.

They all packed their things and reentered the BTR to continue on with their journey. Spider quickly put them back on track as he got to the road that would lead them to Canada. About 70 miles/ 112.654 kilometers over the border, Ocelot broke the silence in order to ask a question to the African that sat across from her.

"What do you think of life, Ghost?" He asked. It was a long moment as everyone waited for his answer.

"To me, life is a huge jungle. And at this moment in time, its full of animals...that includes people-" he explained but was suddenly interrupted.

"You think of people as animals? Are you some twisted, sick in the head, psychopath?" Bull questioned in his thick Irish accent.

"Yes I do. And how does that make me a, how you put it? A 'psychopath'?" Ghost asked back.

"It tells me you would kill a man the same way you would an animal. Common game. That's just my opinion though." Mantis spoke up in a monotone.

"We're all animals, just very civilized animals." Ghost told them. "We are born, we live our lives, we kill other animals to survive and we procreate before we die. Leaving behind a child is what we do to keep our species alive. This is why I state the fact that we are animals. Just because our population has dramatically decrease doesn't change that fact." Femi just barked, agreeing with his Master. A small cloud of soot formed soon after. "The life of the common predator… The thing is with me is before the Diamond Dogs drafted me and then became a member of Militaire san Frontaire. I was an animal that didn't fight my instincts. I let it consume me. I allowed myself to get closer to nature, and because of that, I could kill anything with my bare hands. I would use knives to and kill those bastards. And in the end, I would take a piece of them with me once it was over."

"You lived your life like that man from that movie Riddick? You keep what you kill as a souvenir or something?" Octopus asked with a hint of fear in her voice.

"Yes, I did." He said with a nod. "And if I was still in Africa, running free, I would be slaughtering every single man I came across. Of course, I would leave you women alone." he told them. "It's a proven fact that males of any species will attack their own but will leave the females alive. They rarely attack them unless they're provoked." Leaning back in his chair, Ghost just lets out a sigh. "Wolf can tell you first hand that I've done this. She saw me do it once. I massacred an entire camp of Nafsi Giza.

Nearly everyone turned to the female, who simply nodded her head to answer their unspoken questions. A haunted looked played in her eyes as she stared at the floor. At that moment, the women were happy to be who they were. The men however had other thoughts. Spider just ignored the cold chill that ran down his back and fiddled a bit with the radio on the dash. All it was pushing out was white noise as if the machine was stuck on the voice input.

**RAIDEN/JACK THE RIPPER**

"...massacred a whole Nafsi Giza camp..." The radio signal was patchy but the blonde shinobi still heard most of the conversation and it mad the half crazed cyborg grin like a mad man.

"Soon Roho ya Africa (The Ghost of Africa) I will paint my blade with your blood, and then I'll be able to appease Brother. Snake, we have clearly surpassed him...Roho has power to match us and understands the struggle of survival... He will beat me... or I will beat him. Just as The Boss fought Big Boss." Jack said to his other half out loud as his optical processor showed him an internal feed of Raiden before he became a cyborg in their head.

"...A battle against Ghost? That is all you ask... I can't allow that." Raiden said to his darker half.

"Yes. Just one last battle is all I need before I can finally be at peace. And you, you will have full control once again. I will only lend power after that point.' Jack said as he made a mad dash to the very tip of west Alaska to wait for his prey to meet him.

**Hello readers i know its been a while and i was right to tell you no due dates because that hampers me to much, i honestly have better things to do other than sit on a computer and type as i have school, and a job. thank you for reading and enjoy this new chapter and happy late Christmas and New Years.**

**I do not own the Metal Gear franchise, Kojima Hideo the main game designer does...sorry but im not good enough to think of all that plot line and design the characters.**

**DAVID (SOLID/OLD SNAKE)**

"Massacred a whole Nafsi Giza camp..." Old Snake stated quietly to himself after listening to the patchy broadcast from an old holographic walkman he had gotten from his father.

"The predator of predators is what you are Ghost... I have fought countless war machines and killed many man and survived unbeatable odds. And for that, I have become a living, breathing, war machine... Just as Big Boss had and The Boss before him." The man said to himself as he took a long drag from a cigar as he sat against a lone tree in a mile long cemetery.

An infected man in a bloodied, torn suit tried to rush him but he was quick and was able to bring him down with a single bullet to the skull. Now, it laid motionless just like the dozens others that littered the ground. Again, Old Snake took a drag from his cigar and puffed out the air without a care in the world. As he put away his handgun, pulled out an injection gun. Along with a small hand mirror and a tape recorder.

"This world has passed my time. My name may not have been official, but the Old Boss has spent his time... Maybe, maybe the next Snake will handle the new wars that will surely be started later. Otacon will be able to complete my final wish, and Mei Ling would be perfect for it..." He says to no one but himself as he fills the injection gun with a glowing purple liquid, lifting it up to his neck.

With a harsh push into his neck, the needle pierced his skin. Snake grunted before pulling the trigger, forcing the liquid into his blood stream. Almost immediately, he pulling the gun away. Picking up the mirror, he held it up to view his reflection. With his keen eyes, he watched the wrinkles in his face slowly retreat, leaving smooth and younger skin. His grey hair turned blonde before merging into his permanently dyed brunette color. Turning his face side to side, he stretched his arms and legs. It seemed that the injection stopped the effects of his DNA's quickened aging process. The serum was able to make him look and feel his real age, 37.

Picking up the tape recorder he pushed the talk button.

"Year date 2028. Month October...? Year #10, Day 319... Injection #47 has been successful, but has slowed down since the last injection. I think my body is growing an immunity to it just as Otacon a.k.a Hal Emmerich has informed me. The radioactive cells in my DNA are growing stronger to fight off the serums properties to forcefully activate them to temporarily negate the altercations of the les enfants terrible experiment. My body may soon deny the injection in a couple more weeks... maybe sooner than that" he let the recording stop and released a heavy sigh.

"Hurry up Ghost... The living war machine is waiting to face the predator of predators as his last battle in this world. Come and receive the codename of Boss. All you have to do is find me..." Old Snake spoke as he looked to the side, staring at the graves with the names: Naked Snake, The Joy and Grey Fox written on them. Right next to them were a few marked with Liquid Snake/ Revolver Ocelot and another with Gene, Elisa and Ursula next to that one and Jonathan as another in the cluster of head stones. Big Boss had told him much about Gene, Elisa and Ursula along with Jonathan. While Gene was an enemy he was still a brother of arms, just as Jonathan was.

Thank you for reading and i hope my readers enjoy this chapter, i know it is getting a little strange with new things coming into the mix that Kojima has never ever put in his franchise. I say Kojima and not konami because they have lost a big chunk of my respect for firing the main game designer Kojima Hideo a man who literally has his name written all over the games and has made TWO personal appearances in the franchise. And Konami i hear is trying to erase any trace of him from the franchise... all i have to say to that is good look trying to find all the marks because there is a shit ton of them in the original let alone the the other 20 games not including the HD collections and remastered ones to improve the graphic outlook of the older ones.

Black Pitbull, and please review i need to know how im doing people.


	13. Chapter XIII

**Hello my readers and no I am not dead as you may have thought i just had a bad case of writers block and couldn't find a way to continue. But know i have succeed partly, all it has to do is appease you the reader(s) that have chosen to...well read my story. **

**ENJOY :3**

**_Black Pitbull**

**DARKARAI/ELIJAH (GHOST)**

It's been two days since the group arrived in Canada. The new location was cold; roads were covered in at least three feet of snow. Luckily for them, it had stopped a day after they arrived, so most of the sitting snow had at least melted away. In order to survive the harsh cold, they camped inside the BTR. Thanks to Ghost, the interior stayed warm enough to keep everyone inside comfortable and warm. This kept the group from having to resort to extreme methods of keeping each other warm, which, to say the least, Ghost would have forced them into.

Hummingbird was still red in the face as the thought of combining everyone's body heat together ran through her head. Of course, sleeping in groups didn't sound bad. As long as everyone stayed clothed, everyone would agree with the method. Unfortunately, not everyone shared similar sleep patterns. Many of the guys couldn't even look at one another after the idea was spoken. It seemed that more than one of them found it very comfortable to go, as an average American would call it, Commando. As many of the members attempted to shake the thought out of their heads, others had their minds on other things.

Spider, who was still manning the BTR, was maneuvering them through the frigid terrain Canada was known for. After driving for several hours, the Russian called out to the leader about being low on fuel. He stated that they would be completely empty in the next couple of hours and that a fuel source must be found as soon as possible. They also needed to find containers that they could fill with fuel so they wouldn't have to continue stopping to refuel. But luckily for them, they entered a large city with multiple supermarkets. And across the street from one of the buildings, they found an abandoned, but still standing, Mobil. Wasting little time, the group quickly refueled the BTR and filled some empty tanks they found within the store.

As they focused on the task at hand, they were surprised that they didn't see too many cannibals walking around. It was strange because they were located in the center of Manitoba, a city that was heavily populated. However, they were able to spot a few Gekko. Luckily, they managed to avoid being detected as they moved from the center, heading straight for their destination. Wolf even ventured out and asked them about the situation with the cannibals. Unfortunately, they didn't have the answers she and the others were looking for. So with little to go on, the group kept a close eye out for any, just in case this was some kind of trap made up from the enemies that were hunting them.

**BABYLONIAN SOLDIERS (NANE = Eight, SABA = Seven)**

The two were standing on top of a tall building within the city, looking over the plaza Ghost and his platoon had stumbled into. The two noticed the different expressions each one was wearing and couldn't help but think that they may have an idea as to what was going on. But then again, they probably didn't.

Nane, an average size male with a small built was dressed in the familiar looking silver suit of the Babylonian group. He just stood there, tapping his fingers along his arm. He had a short fro and a long scar that traveled across his face. His eyes were also a mixture of brown and gold. The handkerchief, which had a tribal hyena pattern, was tied around his right bicep. The woman next to him was sporting a similar suit. Hers was a slight bit tighter, showing off the curves of her body. She had a slim build and was short with long that was tied into a low ponytail. Her dark eyes held a bit of anger within them as she glared at the platoon. She also donned a face mask, which covered her mouth. Her tribal hyena pattern handkerchief was tied around her neck, just like Tatu. At the moment, her eyes had black, shade-like pieces of material covering them. Nane could barely see the schematics being displayed n the screen of the said device.

"Do you have a clear view of them?" Nane asked in their native tongue, Swahili.

Babylon always paired its members, sending them out in a two consisting of two members at a time. The most common pairing would be a team consisting of one male and one female. Of course there were situations where the teams consisted of the same genders, but that was normally under different circumstances. The reason for the male/female pair was to help the members find a mate. And currently, the group had only nine members left. The old Sita, a weak fire user, was killed by an unknown, silver haired, red eyed man.

Nane should know, after all, he was there. That's how he got his own scars. He had barely moved out the way before his skull could be sliced in half. He was lucky to have come out of that situation with scars. And it was all thanks to the old Sita for warning him at the last minute. Sita on the other hand wasn't so lucky and was stabbed in the back.

"Yeah, I see them." She answered. "He's there, and so are those four whores." Saba sounded excited but very annoyed as well. It made the male beside her question her.

"Who are the four whores?" he asked through their mental link. He figured it would be best to ask her the question through the link instead of out loud. The last think they needed was to be spotted. She didn't say a word.

"Anyway… The guy you spotted. Is it the one who is known as Roho ya Africa?" he asked.

"Yes, it's definitely him." she answered. "I'll never forget his face. I knew he was still alive, even though that bitch shot him." listening to her, Nane could hear a happy tone in her voice. It also sounded a bit hyper as well.

"Well, that's all good and all, but we do have an operation we need to complete." Nane told her. "In case you've forgotten, Moja (one) didn't order the retrieval yet –"

"Damn Moja!" Saba snapped. "It's always follow orders and do as we are told. I've worked for Babylon before the infection spread and I still don't understand why we are doing this. He is standing right there! Plus that amber eyed bitch is with him too… We can take them now." the woman growled in annoyance.

"Saba, there were able to bring down Kumi. Sita was able to hold his own against Nne." The Nane told her. "Tatu even commented on the fact that they could give her a hard time. Two of those three are several ranks above us. It would be unwise to attack them right now. We first need to weaken them before bringing them in."

Saba just sighed in annoyance…..

"Besides, this new Sita, he's smart. We have to be patient." Nane spoke up putting a little base in his voice to get his point across, and it worked even though Saba knew she was strong than him. "Now what's the statue on the snow?"

Saba raised a hand and let the metal over it fall away like sand but to bunch up at her wrist as her bare hand tested out the moisture in the air.

"Hmm. They have built up a good level. It's enough to make a powerful blizzard." Saba told him. "Tisa had better hurry up and get that data for those machines of hers. The horde hiding out within the city is getting bigger by the day." She told him. "Hell. This whole building alone was a pain to clean out by ourselves." Saba stated after a moment of thought. The black material retreated from her eyes becoming like grains of sand and moving to two small incisions on the suit and into a small storage port implanted in her body.

"Good. Those blood ports we put near that station will draw them in, just like hungry ants to an open bag of sugar... After a good 45 minutes has passed, you should make it rain blades to take them out." The male stated.

"What if they overrun Roho?" Saba asked fearful for the other man' life.

"Then we save him and take him with us, which I doubt will happen since he has an elemental beast with him...the parting 'gift' Tatu left him." Nane said with finality in his voice as he crouched down.

Saba only nodded and in the back of her mind silently hoped.

**DARKARAI/ ELIJAH (GHOST)**

They looked through the ransacked gas station and all they could find was toppled over bare shelves, forgotten junk food, and snacks crushed and strewn across the tile floor. A few magazines were on the floor, along with droves of Canadian money from a busted up cash register. The walls and floor had black and crimson blood and a body or too ripped apart from a feeding frenzy. There were also some gas tanks for grills.

Bull dragged out a box of old alcohol and popped open a bottle, taking a swig before growling and pouring out a slimy clumped up mess from the container. "This shit is really old." The Irishman' commented as he stared at the liquid. Spider went behind the counter and searched for the button to turn the most likely comply gas to refuel.

Ocelot thought about making a joke as he grabbed two fistfuls of money off the floor, putting it on the counter. "Gas on pump 8 please" he said in a polite but silently impatient voice.

Many had the resounding thought although Ghost mumbled it "Honestly… is this really Revolver Ocelot's son?" The African distinctly heard "Yep" as his answer in a double laced voice. Just at that moment, the back room's door, which was just behind Spider, bursts open with a couple of cannibals coming through. Before either one of the damned creatures could get him, they each took a bullet to the brain and fell back onto the floor in motionless heaps. Ocelot had one of his colt action army pistols out, which smoking at the barrel from the discharge. The blonde flicked his wrist making the cartridge come out and replaced the bullets he spent and spun the gun on his finger and holstered it in the back gun holster pocket on his belt. He then preformed his father's signature pose with one handed. He sent Spider a smirk as in saying with that look "I just saved your ass and you now owe me".

"Yes. Yes it is." was the next thought as the only person who could of had any chance of reacting that fast was Ghost and with him being on the other side of the room. Spider would have been gone, either being infected or bitten in places that caused his death. The Russian just shrugged it off and pressed a few keys on the register to fire it up.

Ghost jumped over the counter and checked the bodies as he saw that they had blood on their lips. It wasn't a good sign. Walking into the back room, Ghost found a scarce storage. After breaking down that room, he then found weird black cylinder tanks. Placing a hand on the surface, he felt the heat of it and knew it had to be keeping whatever was inside warm. Looking towards the ground, he found blood trails leading to one tank that was beaten and ripped open, which made a huge pool of crimson on the floor. He tapped his fingers in it and looked at it closely. He even gave it a sniff and it smell of blood.

"Dark...what's going on? What's back here?" Wolf's voice called from the door as Ocelot came strolling in while reading a dirty magazine.

Octopus came up from behind the blonde male and slapped him upside the head before taking the reading material and tearing it to shreds, leaving parts of bikinis and interesting (to the male point of view) on the slightly sticky floor. Ghost ignored them and took of his knife. He punctured a tank near the top and pulled it, out leaving a small leak. He put the blade close to his eye and looked at it in the light. He then turned to look at the other tanks.

"They all filled with blood..." Ghost stated with a suspicious tone of voice.

"What is...? There's nothing but… well, a bunch of tanks." Ocelot was getting the idea quickly, as where the two females. Giving the tanks a closer look, he found a spigot at the very bottom and an electronic timer to switch them on counting down already.

The timer had less than five minutes remaining before the tanks spilled the blood inside the stores. Ghost whipped his head around and counted the tanks he could see within seconds. He found a total of 8 and there was probably more than that, and that's not including the one that had been compromised already. They had walked straight into the ground zero of a trap that was meant for cannibals and didn't have the time to get far enough away.

"We are so fucked, aren't we...?" Ocelot questioned rhetorically.

"Right in the ass... Fortune you are a fucking liar, you know that?" Ghost barked at the spirit that was standing next to Wolf.

"How about we get to moving instead of yelling at the dead ok?" Wolf said as she speed walked out the door.

Ghost didn't say anything else as he barked orders for everyone to get back to the BTR. Ghost ticked away the seconds in his head, by his count they only had less than three minutes. They were gonna have to fight their way out of the incoming shit storm. And t make matters worse, the clouds were just now deciding to release more snow they had build up. And from the looks of things, it looked like it was going to turn into a blizzard soon. Thinking quickly, Ghost started to talk quickly.

"Femi...can you explode at a moment's notice?" Ghost barked at his beast.

"Yes I can master but I cannot control the blast radius..." The beast spoke calmly leaving all faith in his master.

"Do you have a plan here Boss, because I sure as hell don't if Ocelot is speaking of a trap here?!" Spider yelled as he hauled his ass towards the BTR, followed by a few others.

"YES. Ocelot...Bull help me out with theses gas tanks" Ghost barked as he lugged two tanks with him as Femi dragging a tank in his jaws, leaving a trail through the snow. Still counting the seconds, Ghost yelled out that they had less than a minute left. When they made it back, Ghost ordered everyone inside.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Wolf screamed when he slammed the door without joining them and tossed the tanks topside. He covered up the top with just him and his beast.

"Very few can stand the heat of fire wolf. However, I can survive a rainstorm made of fire!" The African man yelled over groans of hundreds of cannibals crawling from their hiding places. They looked like wolves converging on pile of fresh meat and ready to feed.

Ghost armed himself with his AK-47 and a handful of knives as he ignored the yelling and beating of his platoon to get back inside to safety.

"Femi! Grab on to those tanks now and when I say jump, you better jump like you're trying to reach the fucking moon, you got that!" Ghost barked as he shot down the closest of incoming waves of hordes.

"I aim to please, master." Femi spoke as his jaws continued to grasp the tank tightly. One tank was wrapped around his tail while the others were held on his back. The top and bottoms of them were sticking out his sides and stood in a crouch ready to do as ordered.

Ghost fired off what he could and was quickly surrounded. The snow had picked up and turned into a harsh blizzard making it hard to see. But he could feel the cannibals rocking the BTR from side to side, trying to knock him off while others tried to climb up. However, he easily killed them off.

"Jump now Femi!" Ghost barked over the howl of the wind. His beast shot into the air like a bullet, reaching a few hundred feet into the air.

"MAKE IT RAIN" the African shouted to the heavens like he was ordering a god to do just that.

High in the air, Femi heard the call and made his teeth dig and poke into the tank. The tanks released the gas at a fast pace, causing Femi blow himself up into a burning cloud, resulting in him coming down in a rainstorm of lit ash. The infected cried in agony as the fiery ash mixed into the blazing winds of the blizzard, burning everything it touched. The infected people cried in agony as they were burning alive, ashes entering their mouths, creating even more heat from the oxygen. The burning air filled their lungs and burned them from the inside out.

The blizzard slowed down to allow more visibility and Ghost saw the droves of cannibals burning from his onslaught of an attack. In the middle of the fire storm, Ghost saw the wisp of his beast's spirit as it floated towards him. Its coloring wasn't that of pure white anymore. Femi now had a fiery red tint to as his innocent puppy form came up to him.

"Reform... but not to large just a compact size for now." Ghost stated as he took a seat after his beast's soul nodded and caught a stray piece of ash quickly and rebuilt himself piece by agonizingly slow piece.

It took a full ten minutes for the blizzard of snow and ash to stop before it was safe for the other member of the platoon to exit the BTR. Ghost banged a few times on the top cover to signal the all clear as pushed it open to see all of them staring at him with surprise on their faces.

"Is it over?" Hummingbird questioned.

"Yeah... how is it out there...Commander" Tiger said with much respect in her voice compared to its usual yell.

"Well most if not all have been burned alive from the inside and out...so there is that" The African stated.

A small little bark agreed with him as to his side was a puppy version of Femi, with red eyes and all. Wolf, followed by a few others, climbed topside to see the results and they cursed at the near sea of bodies around them. Looking around, Ghost sudden heard the Codec ring in his ear. A few unfamiliar numbers appeared in his mind's eye and he answered to see who it was.

"You are Ghost right?" a woman's thick Russian voice spoke to him. "I command FROGS, just call me Colonel...my ship felt a blast a few clicks in your direction and we saw it from our dock. Is the Son alive?" Colonel questioned with a dark tone.

"Yes he is alive so is the rest of my platoon, thanks you for asking by the way." Ghost growled at the command of FROGS.

"Remember, we only follow for the Son if he decides to follow you then we follow. He saved us and taught us we in debt to his line only." Colonel stated with distaste before cutting the call.

"FROGS?" Mantis questioned.

"They were making sure Ocelot was alive or else deal was off and we are left behind." He growled his beast agreeing with him.

"The FROGS could be useful, to restart the military... If Snake doesn't come back..." Raven started to say.

"Snake may have gone off the grid and Python isn't doing too well. The man is more a leader for the field than for an army." Ghost cut in as he jumped down and began pumping gas into the BTR.

"Mongoose, what is on your mind? You're too quiet over there." Ocelot called to the Russian who had just pulled out a cart of Cigarettes and lit one up from a piece of still burning ash on the ground.

"I'm thinking on something...My grandfather always spoke of this incident in South America, a little place called peninsula of the dead" Mongoose spoke up with a puff of smoke and a hand on his chin scratching stubble.

"Yeah I heard of that, something about a fallout with Big Boss and a Rogue Fox unit... it was the unofficial start of FoxHound most of the info my father didn't tell but he did let slip about something called the philosopher' legacy once." Ocelot said with a shrug.

"Wait… the Philosopher's Legacy... I think I know about that. It's, if I recall correctly, billions of dollars in funds that were going to be used for wars around the world to create things like the motors and tanks for one. I think a Fox unit member named Gene had got his hands on it and planned to make a heaven for soldiers." Wolf said, working on memory alone from the book she had read years ago.

"Yes, the very one... Gene also said he had created underground tunnels going to ever continent on the planet. At least, that is what I heard from my grandfather, but they weren't finished and well hidden. He did have a rough map of them and let me look at it since the heaven for soldiers never came true it was just a piece of paper with squiggles to him now... Maybe we could use those or some people might have found them" Mongoose said as he finished the Cig and threw it to the ground.

"Good bit of Intel, but it's not needed at the moment. I'll tuck it in the back of my mind for now. Let's keep heading to Alaska..." Ghost barked as he hooked the pump back up after filling the tank, jumping back topside with his AK at the ready. "Let's move, were losing Daylight"

**BABYLONIAN (NANE and SABA)**

"That...was glorious" Saba said with an insane gleam in her eyes at the destruction her object of obsessive affection and his beast caused.

"No, that was fucking dangerous for anyone in range. Which included US?!" Nane stated with a severally scared tone in his voice. "Demon isn't strong enough for him for what that was...it was like a blizzard from hell"

The only way the two had survived from the attack was that Nane made a small impervious spot that they stood in with his aerokinesis. If it wasn't for that alone, they both would have died along with the cannibals they had made the trap for.

"Your right. Demon never did him justice...oh how about devil or maybe king of hell-" Saba was going into her own little world.

Just then a communication sound fired off in their heads.

"Nane, Saba report is it done?" a dark empty monotone voice said to them

"Yes Mbili, but we were not the ones to complete-" Nane started to say with a shaky voice totally terrified of his superior.

"Then tell me who did?" Mbili said with little care.

"The new recruit, Nne has suggested for the position of Sita sir" Nane answered quickly.

"He was amazing sir. He burned the horde to ashes from the inside out with a storm of fire" Saba cut in trying to put her two cents into the report.

"...interesting, Moja will look over your feeds. return to the utopia...Tisa will finish her business soon unless she is dispatched. Moja will be pleased." the second in command said the last part to himself just before he cut the communication connection.

The two of them said nothing as Nane slowly dissolved into metal gas and mixed into the wind and Saba ran to ground using super-speed an onwards to the East with her power.

**JUN (RAGING RAVEN)**

The ride was boring and annoying since all they had to do was to do check over their equipment, clean their equipment or have small talk with other members. While talking with Flame wasn't all too infuriating, even more so when Ghost knocked her down a peg during pre-Outbreak saying being angry all the time wasn't to healthy or very forth coming in a 'persuading' manner (i.e. severe corporal punishment in very imaginative ways) so she wouldn't be all cranky when it came to dealing with others.

She could still get annoyed easily but the fuse to her temper was lengthened considerably. Of which Tiger wasn't helping earlier but that problem fixed itself when Ghost showed he could rain hell upon earth. What was really bothering her was not the urgent operation to get on a boat owned by the FROGS that Liquid had once controlled but the atmosphere of the BTR. Raven was going to speak up on it but they had finally reached the gates of Shadow Moses before she could and Ghost didn't tolerate much drama or nonsense from their resident drama queen Tiger when he was serious.

There were cannibal bodies littering the snowy grounds and large spears of frozen cracked earth poking from the snow all around. It put all of them on edge as the plowed through the broken gates and halted at the supply route. The place was falling apart in places from Gekko blowing up in the area, Ghost knelt down and touched it and found the left over parts were cold as the Alaska plains and covered in a layer of ice about a few inches thick. They had gone off years ago and lost power by then, moving on they passed into the warehouse. which still had a few crates full of supplies and even some ammo that was a little rusted over but still fire able.

The trip though became uneventful and almost everyone didn't feel it worth their time or energy to aim the sights of their firearms around every corner anymore. When they reached the nuclear warhead building, they heard someone in the room cursing very loudly and tossing around small objects. As they got closer to the sound, they reached a slight half open power door. Their African leader glanced at them then the door and slowly placed a hand on the edge and shoved it all the way open and barrel rolled into the open.

He was soon followed by the rest coming into the open and aim at... a man wearing snow fatigues. the Tech lab was trashed with broken computer parts on the floor along with paper. The man was aiming a hybrid of a grenade launcher and a SCAR-H at them. His gear was white and grey with a belt of grenades and overstuffed utility pouches, his jet black hair was cut close to his head and had a grey scarf wrapped around his face.

"I shoot and you all go boom, you shoot and we all go boom..." The man said in a sharp annoyed tone.

"The hell do you mean?! we all die anyway?" Ocelot barked.

"I'm stocked with frags, C4 and custom designed grenade rounds that I've created with the mix of C3. one shot from me can blow up a three story building and if you shoot me and more than half of Shadow Moses won't exist anymore" The white clad man barked back.

"Stand down, I don't feel like reporting your dead bodies to Python and we still need Ocelot alive." Ghost said lowering his weapon and taking calm steps towards the walking time bomb.

"You in charge here?" The man said as he slowly lowered his weapon.

"The names Ghost and this is my platoon..." Ghost stated with a hand held out.

"Names Qing but my old squad used to call me Mad Bomber..." Qing said after he pulled off his scarf showing an angular Asian face as they made contact with their hands in a mutual handshake.

"Mad Bomber ehh…? you here by yourself?" Ghost questioned Qing.

"No I got a small girl with me, my niece...Cam did you find anything over there?" Qing called to the side.

A 12 year old girl with dark short hair wearing snow fatigues of her own but looked over sized for her peaked from around a thrown desk.

"No I didn't find much of anything" Cam responded coming out in full view; the poor thing had a P90 strapped to her back.

"What you two looking for and are you going to do with it?" Wolf asked them.

"Data on Rex...so far I have gotten my hands on a few metal gears from around the world. Ray and Arsenal of the Big Shell. The forgotten Peace Walker, the Shagohod, Zeke, RAXA even CHiaoth Ha Qiadesh... even a few prototypes it's the only thing I can give to MSF to let us in" the bomber told them.

"What do mean, with data like that they would have made you a technical head on the spot... if you have got some kind of contact inside?" Tiger question and for once screaming.

"MSF has been locked down and all deployed units have been recalled, something about a lightning getting lost in the clouds and a snake running off in the dark my guy inside only gets the codes nothing too important..." Qing stated with a slightly confused tone and a scratch of his thin beard.

The new squad may not have known what the two saying meant but Ghosts platoon did, it was a play on words meaning Raiden was out rampaging obviously and Old Snake had gone the grid and probably rogue. With one man who is meant to be leading an army gone AWOL and blood lust control legendary Cyborg on the loose a rabid dog off its leash. It would certainly be a good idea to be on a platform in the middle of the ocean where neither could get to you unless they took a boat and you could blow them out the water. If it ever came to that in the first place but still a contingency.

"We can get inside if you work for my platoon and you can take care of your niece...keep your guns and you won't be reduced to a civilian on sight" Ghost told the Asian.

"Sound good, who made you the boss of this platoon though?" Qing questioned honestly.

"I'm good at warfare and knives..." Ghost answered.

"...I'm good with explosives and have an unhealthy obsession with things that go boom" the bomber said with a maniac grin on his face.

"Uncle really likes things that go boom, sometimes they look like fireworks to me" Cam said with childish wonder in her eyes.

"I like them both already" Raven spoke up with an uncharacteristically cheery voice.

"Of course you would, a man that like to blow things up and a child about to get the same mindset what could go wrong" Wolf said sarcastically to which the others nodded in agreement.

After the bomber had gathered as much info from the out dated computers as he could scrap together they headed into the Rex holding warehouse and had to the man's' expertise in his field to get through as it had been blocked off by a cave in that was freshly made not a few hours ago. once they broke through they came to a large room with gekko parts all over the floor and a single figure standing in the very dim area.

"So you finally make it...took a while now I get to finish what my Kumi started" The voice of Tisa spoke up as her metal formed into her weapon, that only Ghost had any hope of seeing from the darkness.

Instantly the platoon clumped together to cover each other from all angles as Tisa moved around in the dark her footsteps echoing and just when their platoon leader was going to tell them to fire in a direction. It had become deadly quiet, no sounds of movement in the dark were made Tisa was lost in the darkness even to Ghost' eyes.

Minutes, hours no one had any sense of how much time had passed Ghost and Wolf suddenly shouted out to everyone.

"MOVE, Scatter now!" they had said and they all followed jumping into random directions as the ground they were just standing on spawned a small forest of rocky spikes with only a split second of shaken earth as a warning.

"Ocelot duck!" Ghost barked.

The blond listened instantly and in their very limited sight they all saw a huge spiked ball of metal shoot just above the man and into the middle of their sights a thick line of chains leading from its starting point.

The silver soldier laughed darkly as the huge metal ball was yanked back into the darkness.

**Well there is the cliff hanger people hope you have enjoyed it and please review. I don't know if i'm doing something wrong or right if you don't make any comments about it. So far i've been going off my ratings and that can only tell me so much.**

**_Black Pitbull**


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